#Watch me still end up romancing Astarion in this run

[humblemooncat]

Drow Durge run is a go.

I needed a file for when I just want to be a dirty crime boy. His name is Dirge, since he doesn't think anyone's going to believe his name is "The Dark Urge", and it seems fitting being both a bard and the last thing most beings see/hear. <3

He's a Bardlock, and a shitty little man. Now Nox has a friend. I seem to have a Look for my evil boys.

[fandom-go-round]

Personal Time: Astarion x Reader x Halsin

Did I romance either of these two? No I didn't. Is that going to stop me? God I wish it would

Warnings: Sex, Sexual Situations, Masturbation, Mutual Masturbation, Dom/Sub (Astarion Topping), Leashes, Light Humiliation, Size Kink, Sex Outdoors, Overstimulation, Teasing, Edging, Oral Sex, Anal Sex, Threesome, Mild Pain Kink, Established Relationship, Poly Relationship (Astarion x Reader x Halsin), Druid Tav

            You did everything correctly, thank you very much. You behaved yourself on the road, making sure to not threaten anyone, even the guy who tried to rip you off. You kept your mouth shut when you ended up covered in blood and guts. Today had not been your day, damn it but you were going to make something of it. Which meant that you were going to get off of course.

            Dinner passed without incident and after helping to clean up, you told everyone you’d be going to wash up. No one tried to stop you (even as they teased you about being alone) and you made your way to the river, skin itching. The plan was to clean up quickly and then take your time. It’s why you picked a more secluded site from camp, far enough away that no one would run into you.

            You sped through your bath routine, making sure to get all the blood off. You wanted to spend more time doing and less time thinking. The sun was just beginning to set, the grass still warm in a sunspot away from the shore. You laid out your blanket, placing your small bag of personal items onto the ground. You took a moment to just breath, letting the tension roll out.

            Secluded location inside the trees? Check. Oil and toys? Check. Far enough away you might be able to make a little noise? Check. You did one last scan of the tree line to make sure no one was behind you and got to work.

            Foreplay was skipped to get off quicker, although you did take some time to pinch your nipples and move lower. You grabbed your vial of oil, rubbing it between your fingers before laying back. Thank the gods you grabbed a pillow. It didn’t take you long to start feeling hot. You circled a few times, your other hand reaching down to play with yourself. The gentle stretch of your finger turned into slick movement after a few strokes. You grunted and added another finger, moving your other hand to better support you. You had brought more toys to make it fun but didn’t want to rush. Tonight, you wanted this to take a while.

            You let out a sigh as you pushed a third finger into yourself, not feeling as much of the burn. You stopped moving, enjoying the feeling of being full before starting to pump. You opened your legs wider without thinking, head leaning back. The change in angle helped so you heard the moment someone gasped.

            “Darling!” Shit. Your eyes snapped open at the voice and you swallowed hard. Astarion’s face was amused, the shock on his face half true. You groaned, giving a huff as you slowed your fingers. His eyes flickered down to your hand, tongue darting out to wet his lips. He stepped into the clearing, dying sunlight giving him a soft glow.

            “Looking for a show?” You tried your best to come off coy but you were too breathless. There was a part of you that felt embarrassed by Astarion catching you and the other part figured this was his own fault. He went looking for you and that was on him. He smirked at your voice, taking your words as an invitation to move forward. You watched him take you in, red eyes bright and getting darker. He hummed and you began to fuck yourself faster.

            “I was wondering what you were doing, yes. Wanted some alone time?” His voice had taken a softer tone, even if the words sounded mocking to the untrained ear. You gave him a smile and half shrug, angling your legs better as he took a peek. Astarion gave you a smirk, hand drifting down to rub himself through his pants.

            “Today sucked and I figured this would make it better.” He took in your face as you spoke, eyebrows furrowing a bit. Affection bubbled up, your eyes soft as you gazed at him. The two of you had been working through Astarion’s hesitations with sex and both of you felt confident in approaching each other.

            “…would you like some help? Or shall I leave you to it?”  You smiled at his question, sitting up so you could wave him over fully. Astarion pulled his shirt off, giving you a wink as he began to strip. You gave an apperceive groan, leaning back on one hand and pulling your fingers free. You wiped them on a cloth, making sure that your hand wasn’t sticky. He tracked the movement, sighing and then gracefully kneeling between your legs.

            “I would love it if you helped.” You wrapped an arm around his neck, leaning up to kiss his cheek. He gave a slight smile at your gentleness, kissing your check back.

            “And you didn’t think to invite me? Just plain rude.” His words were teasing against your skin, lips trailing over your shoulders and down your chest. He nipped at your skin until you shivered, shifting so it was easier for him to reach. You gave a soft moan, your other hand going to tangle into his hair.

            “Honestly? I just figured this would make things more efficient.” He laughed around a nipple, giving a hard suck. You rocked your hips towards him, Astarion grinding his cock against you. He pulled back to give you a wicked smirk, fangs peeking out from behind his lips.

            “Oh dear, now I’m really going to have to take you apart.” He didn’t give you any time to respond, kissing you hard and lining himself up against your entrance. His tongue brushed against yours and you groaned into his mouth as he pushed his cock into you.

            He was bigger than your fingers, the burn of the stretch making you tingle. Astarion didn’t give you time to adjust, rocking into you. He didn’t pull out, only pushed deeper and you whimpered. His hips were hard against your own and it took a couple seconds to realize he was pinning you down.

            “Astarion.” You called him name, trying to sound scolding but coming out whinier. He laughed, nipping at your neck as he pulled you closer. You were half in his lap now, legs wide open and hitched over his. Your lover began to move faster, fangs sinking into your skin as you exposed your neck.

            He didn’t drink deeply, moaning lowly and rolling his hips. You felt bolts of pleasure move up your spine, orgasm so close and yet so far. When he pulled his fangs out you squeezed around him hard, the vampire groaning. One of his hands came up to tease your chest, flicking and pinching the skin.

            “Aren’t you a little eager? I thought you were going to draw this out?” You made a surprised sound, pulling back to look at his face. He smirked and stopped moving, buried deep inside of you. He plucked your bag off the forest floor, ignoring how you squirmed against him. Astarion pulled out a dildo, chuckling as he began to go through the bag. You’re not embarrassed; you’ve been together long enough you know his teasing is lighthearted. There is a bit of heat on your face as he pulled out another, larger dildo and you see the understanding in his eyes.

            “I was going to but now I have help.” He threw his head back and laughed at your comment, the sound breathless and mocking. You leaned forward and began kissing down his chest, stopping to pay attention at his nipples. Long fingers wrapped around your throat and you gasped, pushing into his hand.

            “Oh sweetness.” Astarion cooed at you, placing your bag back on the ground and pushing you to lay back. “I am going to have you here all night. That’s what you want, isn’t it? To be stretched out all night?” You gave him a wicked smile in return, wrapping your legs around his waist. He snarled and finally moved again, face focused on where he’s pushing into you.

            The dirty talk started to become white noise the closer you got to cumming. Astarion’s hand was still wrapped around your neck, holding but not squeezing. That made your brain fuzzy on a good day but when he reached down to rub you just right? You’re only half aware you’re cumming, cutting yourself off halfway through a satisfied moan. Astarion’s eyes locked on your face, a softness in his features that only happens now, after the two of you have confessed.

            “Gorgeous.” His words are breathless and you almost lose them in the hazy of pleasure. Instead, you gave him a smile, groaning as he pulled out of you. There’s an answering groan behind you and you gasped, fingers digging into your lover’s sides. Astarion cooed at you, stroking your hair and looking over your shoulder.

            “Come to find us bear?” You relaxed as Astarion identified your other lover, looking over your shoulder to see Halsin. The druid offered you a smile, eyes dark but face sympathetic.

            “I only wished to check in on you. Forgive me for interrupting.” Halsin did, to his credit, sound a little embarrassed. You snickered, hole clenching around nothing. You had wanted to wait until the larger dildo to cum but you couldn’t resist Astarion.

            “You’re alright Halsin, Astarion interrupted first.” The vampire gave a short ‘humph!’ at your words, more playful than serious. Halsin gave another smile, eyes slowly roaming over the two of you. You shivered, trying to ignore the heat pooling in your gut. Apparently, you were ready to go again.

            “I offered help and you accepted, simple as that. Bear, “ Astarion had his semi mocking tone again, eyes showing that he was playing. “Come over here and clean up this mess.” All three of you shared a look, questions and answers coming quickly. Halsin, as always, had to speak things into the world.

            “Would you mind if I joined you?” You shook your head, slowly turning over to face him. He gave a low groan as you opened your legs towards him, Astarion settling in behind you. He was still hard but grabbed your hand to place a kiss on the back of it when you tried to wrap a hand around his cock.

            “Not at all. I’d love you to.” Your voice was lower than normal speaking to Halsin, more proof to you being warm and fucked. Both of your lovers moved closer, Halsin beginning to strip and Astarion reached for your bag.

            “I’m much more in the mood to direct than participate right now. Maybe after a show?” Astarion’s words had you and Halsin sharing a look, letting the words sink in before you both nodded. Astarion and Halsin had their own relationship outside the three of you and you were thankful that the triad was working for everyone. All of you enjoyed taking charge from time to time and no one had any issue with that being Astarion tonight. He gave a sinful smile at your consent and Halsin groaned, pulling your legs closer.

            “We will be more than happy to provide the entertainment.” Halsin’s words were laced with a growl and you gave an agreeing moan. He leaned down to kiss at your thighs, Astarion’s hands moving to hold you open. You squirmed, trying to get Halsin to nip but he didn’t take the bait. The druid groaned, eyes flickering to your face for just a moment before diving in.

            You whimpered, eyes closing as Halsin began to eat you out with vigor. His mouth was hot and with Astarion’s help, it felt like he was warming you from the inside out. He had no issue cleaning up the mess you made, one of his hands drifting down towards his cock. Astarion gave a pleased moan, eyes darting over to your bag.

            “Do you mind a couple of toys, Halsin?” The large elf looked up at the call of his name, eyes flickering over to your bag and then back to you. You sighed dramatically, pushing your hips closer to the eager mouth.

            “You’re not going to embarrass me Astarion.” Your tone was playful and he laughed, something fond on his face.

            “Oh I know that darling. Between the two of you I have learned, without at doubt, that druids are freaks.” You laughed at his words, Halsin’s eyes flashing with amusement as he began to lick you clean. He traced the edges of your hole over and over and your laugh dissolved into a whine.

            “Toys are acceptable. What are you thinking Astarion?” It took all of your willpower to not cry out as Hasin pulled away. Astarion didn’t answer the other man’s question verbally, reaching into your bag and pulling out a collar and leash. Halsin’s eyebrows raised and you blinked in surprise; you hadn’t meant to grab that.

            “Our adorable little pet wanted to be stretched out tonight and who better to do that than you? But I was hoping that you’d let me, ah, control the pace?” Astarion phrased his want as a question but it was coy, said to sound more enticing. Halsin sat back on his knees to think, slowly stroking himself. You watched his hand intently, wondering if Astarion would let you up so you could suck Halsin off. Just a lick?

            “I do not mind, as long as we keep the same precautions as last time.” You both nodded at the druid’s words, Halsin leaning towards Astarion with a smile. The last time the three of you had played, Halsin had tied the two of you up with rope and fucked you for hours. The word to stop was ‘dragon egg mushroom’ and three snaps if you couldn’t speak. It was a good system and it hadn’t failed you yet.

            “Excellent.” Astarion purred, grabbing the back of Halsin’s head. He kissed him hard, tongue darting into the druid’s mouth. You watched them make out for a moment, fingers reaching down to stoke Halsin. The larger man groaned, a gasp following shortly after. You refocused your attention on them and groaned when you saw the collar around Halin’s throat. Astarion pulled back with a smirk, giving a gentle tug of the leash.

            They weren’t anything fancy, a simple leather set but Astarion treated them like they were made of gold. And they looked like it in his hands. He gave an amused chuckle, taking in Halsin and tugging him close. Halsin followed immediately; there was no way the collar was tight enough to cause actual harm. He was freely giving Astarion the ability to control him and the vampire loved it. They kissed a few more times, Halsin groaning into the vampire’s mouth.

            “Go ahead and start pushing into them dear, they’ve been waiting long enough.” Astarion’s voice left no room for argument and Halsin gave a tight nod, kissing down his neck. You could see the gold rising into his eyes but he pushed it down. You pulled your hand away and Astarion reached over to drizzle oil onto his cock. Halsin groaned and you gave an answering groan in response. The elf behind you chuckled, tugging you so that you were almost laying completely flat. Your head was cradled on Astarion’s thigh, Halsin watching as you got situated.

            Once you were comfortable Halsin moved in, the leash taught as he was pulled closer. He used once hand to line up with you, groaning at how wet you were. Your mouth opened in a wordless sound as the tip of Halsin’s cock opened you up. Normally you would need a lot more prep but Astarion was eager to see you fall apart early. You couldn’t ignore the burn and Halsin waited, eyes flickering between the two of you.

            “They wanted this you know.” Astarion’s voice was easy to focus on, even if you know he was going to say something embarrassing. His words always make you feel good, even if they’re teasing. “They were going to take it nice and slow but we know they can take more, can’t you darling?”

            You try to answer, really you do but your words are cut off as Astarion pulls on the collar again. Halsin pressed closer, the head of his cock slowly pressing in and you moaned, head going back. Your legs were getting sore, insides pulsing with a mix of numbness and pleasure. Sweat gathered around Halsin’s temples and his arms shook with the force of holding himself back.

            “I-I don’t want to hurt them.” Halsin’s eyes were getting glassy, looking at Astarion with pupils blown wide. The vampire cooed, giving a devilish smile. One of his hands reached down to rub you and both you and Halsin groaned as you tighten.

            “You aren’t going to hurt them bear, you’re being such a sweet boy.” Halsin shuddered at the praise, letting himself be guided forward. He’s halfway inside and you know that he’s not going to fit the rest of the way, not if you’re not stretched out. Your hole was still burning but it felt so good, like when a bruise starts to heal.

            “Besides, they like pain with their pleasure. Isn’t that right?” One of Astarion’s hands came up to pinch your cheek and you moaned, giving a nod. It felt so good when he treated you like a toy.

            “F-feels so good Halsin please-“ Your words were cut off with a yell as he began to rock his hips. He doesn’t go deeper but hits one spot that makes you see stars. Normally you can’t cum from penetration alone but fuck if he’s not going to try. Halin’s hands are white-knuckled fists by your hips; he only moved how Astarion let him and you almost cum at the realization.

            “He can use you however he wants, can’t he?” Astation’s voice lulls you both deeper, Halsin moving faster and you opening your legs wider. “Halsin’s been so good for us, he should get rewarded. Such a gorgeous wild thing, playing nice with us.”

            Blood rushed in your ears and you’re so close to orgasm it hurts. Your body was still sensitive from Astarion taking you and Halsin makes you feel like you’re going to break apart at the seams. Halsin doesn’t stop thrusting, eyes locked on Astarion’s face as he fucks into you. He still doesn’t go deeper than halfway and all it took was Astarion rubbing you a few times for orgasm to hit.

            You half registered Halsin following you over the edge, hips jerking as pleasure washed through you. The elf gave a roar as he came, eyes snapping to your face. Astarion released the leash and Halsin bent over to give you the filthiest kiss of the night. You moaned into his mouth, Astarion jerking himself off just behind you. He came with a quiet sigh, none of the mess ending up on you.

            The three of you bask for a moment; you’re too blissed out to talk and the boys kiss gently and talk over your shoulders. Eventually Halsin pulls out and Astarion takes off the collar, everyone returning to their bodies.

            “Thank you.” Your voice is still slurred and they turn to you with matching smiles. Astarion gently kisses your forehead before rising, Halsin pulling you into his lap. You’ll be sore tomorrow but its worth every second of discomfort.

            “No need to thank us my heart; thank you for letting us enjoy the night with you.” You give him a quick kiss, Astarion walking back with water and a wet rag. The two of them are in charge of cleaning; you’re only half conscious to anything being said. You grumble as Halsin redresses you, the druid smiling and pinching your nipple. Astarion rolls his eyes but says nothing, the three of you heading back to camp. The others will tease you mercilessly but you’re too blissed out to care; that’s a tomorrow problem. 

[shenanigans-and-imagines]

I Keep Thinking About a Gale x Ace!Tav x Astarion AU

It makes no damn sense. Compels me though.

Let me be clear, this would be an AU and not a continuation of the “canon” I’ve established with Ace!Tav. It’s just not how I picture their story playing out. All the same, I keep circling back to this in my brain. Call it a thought experiment.

I’m probably not going to write a full fic for it. So, if anybody wants to take this general idea and run with it, feel free. Just give me a shoutout. Or if you guys are curious about this AU drop me an ask and I’ll answer with some rambles.

Speaking of, shoutout to @leighsartworks216 for letting me ramble to them about it.

Astarion x Ace!Tav Masterlist (for reference)

Cards on the table, none of these people are ready for a poly relationship

Gale is explicitly monogamous and ties sex and romantic love intimately together. Astarion is still dealing with the idea of being enough and just ✨the trauma✨ . Meanwhile Tav has their own abandonment issues and is just waiting for Astarion to get bored and leave. And yet! This disaster trio won’t leave me alone.

So this whole thing gets started when Astarion approaches Tav about wanting to experiment with sex again

He knows Tav isn't interested in sex and doesn't want to make them feel pressured into having it just to please him, so they talk about opening up in the relationship

Tav is hesitant about it, but also doesn't want this to be the reason Astarion leaves and so agrees

They convince themselves that if Astarion wants to have a one night stand, it’s fine; so long as he’s not seeking out his emotional needs with other people then there’s no risk of him wanting to end things; this is, of course, a terrible way to handle it

So, with that hanging over their heads they reconnect with Gale over some quest (maybe getting a magical item to allow Astarion to walk in the sun)

Gale has been teaching and while happy is admittedly still a bit lonely so is grateful to see his friends again

Gale and Tav always had a close relationship, but seeing them again does stir up some of those old feelings he'd let lie because, you know, the Absolute (headcanon here for further details)

Gale internally berates himself for this because he 1) knows Tav is ace and therefor not interested in a sexual relationship which is something he prioritizes when it comes to romance and 2) Tav is clearly still in a loving relationship with Astarion, so he's not going to be the asshole to get in the middle of all that

He tells himself it’s just the loneliness talking and pushes that shit down

So, he starts getting closer to Astarion who, while still a bit of a rogue, has mellowed a bit and worked on some of his more selfish instincts

Honestly, having the opportunity to see how much Astarion is devoted to Tav increases his opinion of the man

He and Astarion’s relationship is still antagonistic, but much more playful than before

This culminated in a moment when Astarion and Tav are checking in on each other after a trap goes off

Astarion pulls them close a moment kissing Tav on the temple once it’s clear they’re fine

Gale watches this interaction, his stomach twisting with familiar jealousy, but pauses as his mind screeches to a halt realizing “wait, am I jealous of Astarion or Tav?"

Meanwhile Astarion is a bit surprised at Gale being more friendly with him, but he can't say he's complaining. He knows Tav missed him, and while he had his own jealousies early in the relationship, he's since moved passed it. Gale was the one to help him ultimately get together with Tav after all.

He makes more of an effort to get to know the wizard one on one and finds himself looking more and more

There is something oddly endearing when he rambles

Gods he really is a powerful wizard (connotation: scared and horny)

Did his robes always show off his chest hair like that

He really does make Tav happy

Until one morning he's laying in bed and snaps up enraged with himself like, "GALE?! OF ALL THE PEOPLE YOU CAN FEEL COMPELLED TO FUCK. FUCKING GALE?!?!?!?!"

Full existential crisis

Yes, they said opening the relationship, but he knows how nervous Tav feels about it. They’ve told him about their past relationships and how so many of them fell apart when the topic of sex came up

But he also knows he can’t do a one night stand; he needs to trust the person he’s having sex with, he wants it to mean something

He knows Gale and he knows it would mean something with him

He also knows Gale’s opinion on monogamy; would he force him to choose between him and Tav? Would Gale even want to be with him? Astarion knows Gale used to feel deeply for Tav

And what if it ends badly? Gale is Tav’s friend, his friend. Fuck, this can’t be happening

Meanwhile Tav is reconnecting with Gale and is like, “Gods I did miss him…oh wait I like *missed* him, missed him”. But pushes that shit down because, again, in a very loving relationship with Astarion which they won’t risk for anything and 2) Gale has made it clear that sex is something he values in a relationship as a form of intimacy.

They knew they couldn’t give him that then and they can’t now

Tav is also starting to notice how Astarion is looking at Gale

They’re much more in tune with his emotions and can see he’s interested

Tav starts to feel jealous and then feels guilty for doing so because they said opening the relationship was fine

Gale is wonderful. They know he’d treat Astarion the way he deserves. They could hardly blame Astarion for ultimately choosing him

They knew deep down they were just a stepping stone on Astarion’s road to recovery. If he can be with someone who can give him so much love and sex, why would he need them?

It also doesn’t help that as they start noticing Astarion looking at Gale, they see Gale looking right back

They do feel deeply for Gale, but know his thoughts on monogamy

Besides, they turned him down before, they can’t expect Gale to have held onto those feelings

So they start to slowly distance themselves from both men, resolving that if Astarion approaches them about it, they’re not going to stand in his way.

This course of action causes all of them to start driving themselves crazy in their own heads

Astarion is scrambling because they can sense Tav pulling away and is desperate to figure out what’s wrong, but Tav won’t tell them anything

Gale can see it too and so is pushing down all of his emotions because “Tav I know you love Astarion and Astarion loves you, so what’s going on”

Tav can’t confide in him either so they just don’t say anything

This leaves Astarion and Gale to start confiding in each other more because what’s going on?

Finally Astarion spills everything to Gale, he and Tav opening their relationship, his fears about them leaving, and becuase he’s got a good idea why they’re pulling away

Gale is admittedly a bit obtuse about it which prompts Astarion to grab him by the front of the robes and start kissing him

Gale respond enthusiastically and the two of them start making out. But before it goes any further their brains catch up with them and they stop, both knowing that they need to talk to Tav

So they approach Tav and Tav’s like, “yeah, it’s fine, can’t say I’m surprised, neither of you are exactly subtle. It’s fine. I’ll take this as my queue to go then.”

Astarion then jumps in like, “wait, no, who said anything about leaving”.

Tav tries to convince him that it’s fine, that they’re happy for him, really. They can’t begrudge him for wanting more and he shouldn’t feel compelled to stay with them.

Astarion’s brain is reeling from this because are you actually kidding me? Please say you’re joking and don’t actually believe that.

He then takes their face in his hands and tells them he’s not going to stop loving them just because he wants to have sex again and if there is one lesson they’ve taught him is that he has more love in him that he ever thought possible. He’s got plenty to spare.

Gale meanwhile has been watching Astarion and Tav’s relationship for some time and has come to understand you can separate sex and romantic love

He then steps in saying, “yes, I am interested is pursuing something more with Astarion, but also with you. Honestly out of the two of you, I’ve loved you for much longer”.

Tav would still need time to accept the idea that they’re not the third wheel. Gale would need to work out how to put that sometimes obsessive love into two people and Astarion still has his trauma, but they’d all have each other to work it all out once they get everything out into the open.

[thedomesticanthropologist]

In one of my playthroughs, my Tav is having a TIME with Astarion, and it's a version of his romance I don't see represented online as much and I want to talk about it.

If you choose more lightweight dialogue options, if you don't dig into his mind at the bite scene, if you get his Araj confession instead of his impromptu one,

Then by the end of Act 2, you do *not* have a secure relationship AT ALL, he has never said he's in love, and everything feels REALLY rocky.

All through act 1 he lays on the seduction heavily, but in act 2 a bitch is MAD. He is stressed, he needs to figure out his scars, he feels hunted and un-safe and because of this, he starts to take it out on Tav a bit.

SPOILERS FOR ACT 2:

when Raphael shows up to talk to him, he snaps at Tav saying "don't get in my way". When you do his quest and kill the orthon, you have to PRY a thank you from him by literally telling him to parrot your words ('thank you for helping me, it was very... Kind') and he spits it out like he really, really wasnt intending to say anything in the form of gratitude.

When you talk about what to do about Cazador, my Paladin chose 'youll never be free while he lives' because it's true. If he runs, cazador will hunt him. If cazador lives, he will never stop looking over his shoulder. His reply 'i hate that you're right'

Even when you say you'll join him to hunt his master down, you can watch his facial expressions and see: he's not convinced. Of course he isn't. He's terrified. And is he grateful? Yes, but again, it's guarded.

I then went to moonrise and talked to Araj, and I defended his autonomy 100%.

When his Araj-confession happened, it was absolutely NOT a LOVE confession. It was more like:

"thank you. This made me realize I was still acting like a slave even in freedom, and you supporting me there made me feel like I can start to snap out of that kind set. Sooooo... I should tell you, since you did me a solid, that I was using you for protection and manipulating you up until now"

If you DONT choose the top options, the MOST he tells you about how he feels about you is a single line of dialogue

'imagine my surprise when I started to actually feel... SOMETHING... For you'

This could be friendship, crush feels, etc. It's VERY vague, and important things to note is while WE THE PLAYER know more about him and what he may feel at this point or what he's gone through, YOUR TAV DOESNT.

He does not apologize for using you. He states his regret that his plan failed because he started to value you as a person instead of a tool for him to be used. That admission is his gift back to you for defending him in front of Araj.

If you then choose 'what do YOU want' he approves, but says he doesn't know. And then he defends that 'isnt it nice not to know?' You still get soft faces, your hand held. He's trying to *silently* communicate what he can't bring himself to say, but he *DOESNT* SAY anything to affirm you two are a couple/in a relationship/etc. Just a vague 'lets not talk about it but see where it goes'

Honestly, based on this experience via dialogue choices for this character, it almost seemed to me like "sounds like you need a friend not a lover" makes the MOST SENSE. Of course this is my Astarion Romance run, so my Paladin instead said, basically, I'll wait for you until you're ready. (She chose the 'what do you want,' and let it lay there as is)

Afterwards you can ask about your relationship with him and again, he's flustered, he's hedging, he's defensive, and he brushes it off. He's not ready to talk, he's not ready to commit, he's fully focused on Cazador and his safety.

You enter this waiting period where Tav has been manipulated, spoken down to, snapped at, bitten, and responded to without gratitude, but is ALSO given just the faintest, BAREST glimpse at the vulnerability beneath the surface. The player is being asked at this point to REALLY trust and WAIT without ANY evidence that this relationship could become healthy, or could turn into love, or could because a real relationship. And that's SO NEAT

If you don't romance anyone else and aren't put into the position to choose him, you never get a confirmation of dating. If you get the Araj scene and don't choose hug, and don't force him to confirm he was attracted to you etc, you can literally end the talk on "thanks for defending me, also haha I was using you this whole time just so you know, thanks for being nice about it"

From a Tav point of view, this *could* be fairly devastating, and even if Tav decides to wait and keep supporting him, at this point, even post "confession" there is VERY little evidence that things are gonna get better between you.

We know it does. WE do. We get the access to other dialogue and choices or the other confession IF we chose that. But this, this scene, these dialogue choices REALLY emphasize his Act 3 confession

"you were patient. You waited, through blood lust etc /even when it was an objectively stupid thing to do etc"

Cause yeah. He's RIGHT. If you don't choose VERY specific dialogues to get more out of him, most of his romance up until the Act 3 confession,most of how he treats you, most of how he responds to your decisions in game (if you're playing fairly good and not evil/durge) gives Tav no reason beyond faith to continue to pursue him.

I think he knows this, and it's why he's surprised when you state you don't want him for sex. Because up until Act 3, he KNOWS how he's been treating Tav and even HE wouldn't have stood for it if the roles were reversed, so h thinks 'it must be because I'm good in bed'. Then he takes the sex away and you still stay? Even when he's chasing power, hunting for revenge, snapping at you, refusing to commit?

It's a powerful story line. It's so engaging. And it has room for SO MUCH ANGST

Anyways thanks for coming to my Ted Talk

[nerdalmighty]

hey! so, i just recently started playing baldur's gate 3 after seeing people put it all over my dash for months--and you're one of the people i've seen reblogging a lot of posts about it LOL. so if you don't mind me asking, i was wondering what kind of character do you/did you play as? and do you have any sort of backstory for your tav that you'd like to share?

Hoooooooooooooh my god thank you so much for asking. I have a friend who comes over to watch me play on Thursdays and I make a powerpoint every week to catch her up on what she missed - this week's powerpoint literally has slides about my Tav's background (more on those later). This is about to be long, I'm about to drop ALL my lore so buckle up! AND THANK YOU FOR PUTTING UP WITH MY BG3 BRAIN WORMS!!!!! I'm glad they convinced you to play 😈

So to begin, I've been in my first ever dnd campaign with a group of friends for a little over a year now. I didn't know much about Baldur's Gate except that it was a dnd video game and that you could romance people. Me, being a Big Fan of Romance And Fantasy was like "okay well I'm in" and my friend actually let me start a game at his house. Through that, I met Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion.

Backing up a bit to my character; I decided I'd put my character from my irl dnd campaign into the game since I already knew her whole deal. I get pretty overwhelmed with making decisions, ESPECIALLY with big open world games like bg3, so knowing who/what I wanted to be really helped me out.

In the campaign I'm in with friends, it's pirate themed, and I play a half-elf bard named Birdie Harp who's secretly half-siren (murder mermaid). To make a long story very short, she was born in the arctic and escaped her murderous pod during a coming-of-age trial where she also lost her siren abilities (hypnotizing voice, breathing underwater, etc).

I've watched a ton of Dimension 20 which is an actual play show on Dropout.tv (an "actual play" is where you watch other people run a campaign of dnd - like Critical Role, which a lot of people have at least heard of - HIGHLY recommend Dimension 20, as I find it incredibly funny and easier to get into than CR because of the episode lengths), and I knew that I really liked the silliness and theatricality of the bard class. I also loved the bards from The Owl House which helped influence my decision as well.

To be honest, Birdie is my first ever dnd character, so she's basically a self insert but with a MUCH more traumatic backstory than me (this IS dnd after all). As for the half-elf aspect, it was more of an "I want to be half mermaid, what's similar to that?" as opposed to a love for half-elves or something.

BACK TO BALDUR'S GATE - knowing I wanted Birdie to be in the game, I felt a lot less overwhelmed to come up with something entirely new - I knew a lot about the bard class having played one so I wanted to CONTINUE playing one (and I've learned even more since playing bg3!).

When I finally got my own game (I no longer play at my friend's house, but in the comfort of my own home), I recreated Birdie and started on my journey in earnest. I'm VERY MUCH someone who likes to be in control and know what to expect, so I've had guides and walkthroughs to help me the whole time - SUE ME! When it came to first meeting Shadowheart, Gale, and Astarion back at my friend's house, Gale actually immediately stole my heart - a kind, witty wizard who likes books and cats? Literally say less. I went home from that session with my friend fully thinking I'd be a Gale girlie until I really looked into the other options and saw The Vampire.

Blah blah blah, he's hot and funny, but he can also be incredibly soft, which really won me over in the end. So I've been romancing That Guy.

Through Acts 1 and 2, I wasn't all too sure about this version of Birdie's background - sure she COULD still be that half-siren from the arctic, but the game kept suggesting she was FROM Baldur's Gate. I LOVED the inclusion of the harpies in Act 1 and thought maybe that was a viable entry point for her backstory, but so far, she was kind of just... me? She was making the choices I wanted to make (and a few that I knew Astarion would like lmao), but she wasn't really her own entity apart from me except for her name. She also felt vastly different from that character I'd created for my friends over a year ago. For instance, my irl Birdie currently has a crush on a Gale-type character, but this Birdie is ass deep in Astarion (hey, sorry I said "ass deep in Astarion"). The thing I love about Baldur's Gate 3 is how you can really come up with your own backstories, since the in-game one for your Tav is so vague. It's totally fine to ignore tiny details in the game and mold them to your own headcanons for your Tav, but I was so unsure of what I wanted for this Birdie that I kind of internalized that she was from Baldur's Gate.

HEADS UP! The following has some spoilers for Act 3 and some side quests, so STOP reading if that's something you'd care to avoid (the last 3 paragraphs of this post are SAFE from spoilers):

When Act 3 finally rolled around (which is where I am currently, I only have the one playthrough so far because I become INCREDIBLY attached to things), I stumbled across the Water Queen's House in Baldur's Gate. Ah ha! Now this felt promising.

A temple dedicated to the Vengeful Sea Goddess, Umberlee, and her loyal Wave Servants to serve her. It's ocean themed, it has mermaid undertones, and their goddess is basically evil. Seems like the perfect place to FINALLY insert this version of Birdie. I wasn't 100% sure until I completed the Iron Throne mission and was faced with either handing a (mostly) innocent man over to the Wave Servants, or fighting to defend him.

Here are a few of the slides from this week's powerpoint that I mentioned all the way back at the start, starting with SOME background on the Wave Servants:

Ass and Shart are what I affectionately call Astarion and Shadowheart (Also I got this beautiful "Birdie" art on Pinterest which originated from someone named Dantrelium on Reddit):

Apologies for the small text here, but there are some more details about THIS Birdie here, which I literally made up/figured out earlier this week:

Essentially, this Birdie was born at the Water Queen's House as Kittiwake Crest - Kittiwakes are common arctic birds, which I thought would be a nice little homage to the original character she was based off of. She was raised by the collective of Wave Servants there, the main one being Flood Tide Allandra Grey who seems to be head honcho at the Wave Mother's House (in this reality, she is).

Since Umberlee is such a vengeful goddess, I imagine she asked her Wave Servants to commit unspeakable acts in her name, mainly drownings, which THEY see as merciful, but I think Birdie always saw as horrifying. Who were they to decide the fates of others? I also think that the Wave Servants themselves were abusive during her upbringing to keep her in line (but much like how Nocturne was a light in the darkness for Shadowheart, I don't think EVERY Wave Servant was evil). GOTTA have a classic tragic backstory.

Upon researching Umberlee, I learned that most of her servants are clerics, so in my mind, that means Birdie was raised to eventually become one, with her official title eventually going to be "Seawind Kittiwake Crest." Is she still half-siren/mermaid though? Not entirely sure. This IS a magical world though, so I'd be inclined to say yes, probably.

But when we first meet the Wave Servants, they're singing beautifully for their drowned sister, Holli. I think Birdie REALLY loved music and singing with her sisters and secretly trained herself in bard magic when she should have been learning to be a cleric. It's also a classic trait of bards to hide their pain through humor, so I often imagine the type of stupid things Birdie gets up to to bring herself joy (my favorite headcanon being when you meet Skittle the Rat in Wyrm's Rock prison - he's a rat merchant who speaks exclusively in puns. I think Birdie and Gale would excitedly throw puns back and forth with Skittle while Astarion and Shadowheart begrudgingly (and affectionately) roll their eyes in the background).

Another thing I love about the game is how you can string together your own ideas of how companions react to things between big cut scenes. For example, in my head, in my game, Astarion has really become a Big Softy thanks to how fucking Stupid (affectionate) Birdie acts in life and has drawn him out of his shell, but also runs a tag team scam with her where she plays her lute to distract people while he loots an entire place. Gale is Birdie's partner in crime when it comes to tomfoolery and loves to joke and fool around with her (so long as it goes easy on his knees). And Shadowheart is basically a sister figure who flip flops between sassing with Astarion and joining in on the fun. THEY'RE JUST THE BEST, OKAY? OF COURSE I'M GONNA WALK AROUND WITH A BUNCH OF IDIOTS. I LOVE THEM.

Anyway, back to Birdie's backstory: she always hated the atrocities that were asked of her, and she was looking for a way out, but was too scared to take that step and leave since the Wave Mother's House is all she's ever known. One night, while stepping out to quietly dip her toes in the water, the Mindflayers captured her, and that's where we start Act One, all the way up on the Nautiloid. She changed her name to Birdie to distance herself from her previous life, fully took up the bard class, and the rest is history.

Back to that dilemma with handing over that (mostly) innocent guy or fighting the Wave Servants: with encouragement from the party, they convince Birdie to face her traumatic upbringing and fight the Wave Servants once and for all. At this point in Act 3, she's basically helped every single person with their problems except her own. Here's another slide featuring Ass and Birdie:

That's right folks, Birdie faced her past! But the bad news is we don't get to see Astarion in this (audio from The Adventurous Adventures of One Direction):

(Video description - Astarion from Baldur's Gate 3 wearing the Wave Mother's Armor with the following audio:

Guard 1: Whoa, check it out.

Guard 2: Hubba hubba hubba.

Gaurd 1: Nice. I love dudes in skirts.

END VIDEO.) I don't want to tell you how many times I recorded that until I felt like I got it right lol. Also yes, I DID do a scum save where I handed the guy over ONCE just so I could see Ass in this outfit, but Birdie did canonically save Redhammer in my actual save file.

And honestly, that's BASICALLY it for now! My most recent save was after that battle, so I need to figure out if Birdie's going to go back with her party to confront the rest of (or most of) the Wave Servants, or if this chapter of her life is closed.

In an ideal world I'd LOVE to make one of those artsy gif edits of my Tav like this and this, but PS5s make it hard to download clips without uploading them to YouTube first which I don't really want to do.

Thank you SO MUCH for this ask, I had a blast writing it!! Sorry it's so long, I just love this game so much and LOVE talking about it. Please feel free to ask more questions OR chat with me about YOUR Tav! I'd love to hear all about them :)

[princess-leaorgana]

What Tieflings Do Chpt. 1

Summary: After the takedown of The Absolute, Zelphie finds her city in need of more help and her home destroyed. She won't stop top help, but who can help her?

Rolan x Tav (Zelphie; ~30y.o AFAB, Sorcerer, Tiefling, not really described physically on purpose <3)

M/F

Author's Note: I fucking love tielfings. Along with this being a budding romance/smut/fluff/word vomit fanfiction, it's also my case study in DnD 5e tieflings, how they act, what sets them apart from humans and devils and elves. That being said, I have a few artist liberties in here as well where I couldn't find a straight answer, if you'll amuse me.

Mild trigger warnings - There will be smut in future chapters, but this chapter mentions injury and my hyperfixation on tieflings being carnivores. Also spoilers to the game! If you read my work and find anything else that puts you off, please tell me! <3

‘It seems as though the worst is not yet behind us,’ Jaheira said, sarcasm in her voice. Zelphie laughed at the half-elf and sighed.

‘But surely, we can be awarded a little relaxation until the morning,’ the tiefling suggested and Jaheira smirked.

‘Maybe you will relax, but I must go home, to my litter,’ she said and Zelphie chuckled.

‘Oh, I do wish I could help you with all of that,’ Zelphie responded sarcastically. Jaheira couldn’t hold back her laugh. Zelphie smiled at the older woman. She was always so self deprecating about her age, but Zelphie thought she was beautiful and always thought her so strong. To meet Jaheira, the hero of Baldur’s Gate, now twice so, was so exciting for Zelphie. She had grown up hearing stories of the Druid Jaheira, High Harper. Jaheira was everything Zelphie had been expecting and so much more. Zelphie was very happy to call her a companion, a neighbor in fact. The two looked at each other for a moment, the last two in Baldur’s Gate, well, for now. Shadowheart, Halsin, Lae’zel, Gale, Karlach and Wyll had all left. Jaheira, Zelphie and Astarion were left in Baldur’s Gate, the vampire had run off to the shadows, Jaheira and Zelphie remained. What did one say to a companion one had faced the end of the world with? 

‘I assume you have your own family to return to, little cub,’ Jaheira said and Zelphie smirked. Zelphie knew that Jaheira knew better than that. An adult tiefling in Baldur’s Gate, with a full family? Unheard of. The sorcerer had been on her own since she was a child. Not a lot of tieflings had the love of their parents. ‘You know where to find me, please keep close by, yes?’ She asked and Zelphie nodded and hugged Jaheira. Jaheira was so lithe, it was a wonder how she was so strong, Mother Nature was on her side. Jaheira hugged her tightly. ‘Careful with those,’ she said as she loosened the hug and pulled on Zelphie’s right horn. ‘And come find me when you have the strength to help us rebuild, we’ll need you.’

Zelphie headed out to the lower city, praying to any god that was paying attention to her that the small space she had been living in was still standing. The gods would not favor her, however. Her bungalow was dust amongst the streets of Baldur’s Gate. She was half expecting it. But where was she to go? She would kill to take a bath. To continue walking these streets, watching the dead being carted off, the rubble, confused children abandoned, it hurt Zelphie’s heart. There was no bath or bed for her, she would make some use of her time. On her way back to the Elfsong Tavern, she helped where she could. She made use of her volatile magic and helped push large chunks of rubble out of the way so the street could be a little clear for transportation once more. There was a lot to do everywhere, but the park near the lower city’s central wall was a hazard. Zelphie pushed herself to her limits, and twilight was making the work hard. She began her journey to the tavern, hoping for at least a roof to sleep under. 

‘Oi! Hero! I can’t believe you’re alive!’ A familiar voice called from the fountain in front of Sorcerer’s Sundries. Zelphie smiled and looked towards the voice. The tiefling population in Baldur’s Gate had grown tenfold since the scourge of The Absolute took hold. Zelphie couldn’t be happier about it. A lot of Baldurians weren’t very happy about them, not only were they refugees, sucking up precious resources, but tieflings had never had a great reputation. Hellspawn, Devil Bastards, Brighteyes, Gargoyles, a few of the many choice words Zelphie had been called in her lifetime. No one could look past their dark ancestry. Zelphie couldn’t tell a soul how far back her familial line went to the Archdevil Asmodeus, but that was all a stranger would see when they looked at her red skin, her glowing red eyes, or her long and sharp horns. How could she blame some people? What was worse than a devil? After these last few months, Zelphie would have to argue that there was nothing worse than a devil. But Baldur’s Gate would have to get used to being overrun by hellspawn, because they were certainly here to stay, and Zelphie was very happy to see this one in particular. Lia, a tiefling she had met at the Emerald Grove at the beginning of her adventure, was sitting on a pile of rubble outside of her brother’s new property, Sorcerer’s Sundries and the illustrious Ramazith’s Tower. She was waving her arm happily and Zelphie grinned and walked over to her friend.

‘Gods Lia! You’re alright! When I saw the state of the tower, I wasn’t so confident,’ she said happily as Lia lept from her seat. Lia hugged her friend tight, which was incredibly painful for poor sore Zelphie, but she hugged Lia back happily.

‘The outside of it is rather brutal, but from the inside, it’s as if nothing happened at all,’ she said cheerfully. ‘You look a little worse for wear though,’ she said and tilted her head and Zelphie sighed.

‘Please tell me I don’t look half bad for a girl who defeated an Elder Brain,’ Zelphie tried to sound positive. Worse for wear was quite a nice way of putting it. ‘I’m hoping there is one last bed in the tavern for me….my…my place wasn’t as lucky as the tower, I’m afraid.’ Lia frowned and shook her head.

‘Oh, Zelphie, I’m so sorry. I feel so guilty, watching all of these people lose their homes, I certainly know what that feels like. Come on inside, would you? Have a bath and something to eat. There’s a bed in there for you,’ she said and Zelphie frowned. Sleeping in a wizard’s tower was certainly much more preferable than an overcrowded tavern, but Lia and her siblings had just reunited. Zelphie did not want to push in as a beggar off of the street.

‘Lia, I couldn’t. The last thing you three need-’

‘Please shut up and come inside, gods dammit. After saving the city, maybe the whole world, you absolutely deserve to rest your head on a plush pillow,’ Lia interrupted, stubborn as Zelphie had ever heard her speak. Lia wore her emotions on her sleeves, she was bold and she was stubborn. Zelphie and her weren’t exactly close, but every argument she ever heard Lia participate in, she always won.

‘Fine, thank you, Lia. Thank you so much,’ she said and Lia walked her inside. The storefront of the building was as busy as it had been, but for a completely different reason. The normal store had turned itself into a place of healing, it seemed. Beds were brought in and tables were used as beds to comfort the needy. Zelphie walked past clerics healing the hurt and she looked at Lia. ‘Give three orphaned refugees a little land and see what they do with it,’ she said and Lia beamed proudly. ‘Once I’m cleaned up, I’m sure I can be put to good use down here, whatever is needed,’ she said and Lia laughed.

‘You’re fucking ridiculous, Zelphie,’ she said and snorted, leading Zelphie upstairs. ‘You’re bruised, tattered, your brain is full of holes, you are part of the group of people who get to rest.’ Zelphie sighed at that. She was dirty, she was starving, she was exhausted. Still, life went on around her, how could she sleep and rest when there was so much to be done? ‘If you even try to lift a finger for the next twelve hours, I’ll break your legs,’ she said, her tail swaying playfully. Zelphie couldn’t help but laugh at that a little. She followed Lia up another flight of stairs to a portal. Zelphie recognized this portal, she had gone through it before. ‘Rolan changed this to only allow family inside. With the given exception to the person who saved his hide. Three times.’ Lia said and Zelphie looked at her. Rolan has made an exception for her? Surely that also included the rest of her companions, not just her. Although Zelphie was a bit biased towards the tieflings they had met on the road, she wasn’t the only one to defeat the goblin camp, to free those imprisoned at Moonrise or to put a final stop to Lorroakan’s madness.

The pair stepped through the portal, and Zelphie was once more transported to a strange level of the tower. The floors below could be seen from where she was standing, and it gave her nerves an unsettling feeling as she remembered that day. But the ‘foyer’ was much different from when she last saw it. Less clutter, every book and object clearly visible for browsing. Lorroakan had been a hoarder of knowledge, not a lover of it. Clearly Rolan was good on his word, books and scrolls and tomes were neat and tidy. There were considerably less of them, as well. No more throne of books either. Items were on full open display instead of being trapped behind locked screens. Lia led Zelphie to a small hallway and up more stairs. Three flights up, Lia finally walked through and Zelphie was terribly relieved. She was exhausted. Her arms, her legs, her tail, even her horns ached. She imagined her promise to help downstairs would not pull through. She was ready to pass out on the next flat surface she saw.

 ‘Alright, let’s see if I remember this…if I get it on the first go, you tell Rolan how talented I am,’ she said and Zelphie smirked. They stood in front of a normal brick wall. Nothing fancy about it at all.

‘As if he’d believe anything out of my mouth,’ Zelphie said and Lia laughed. The other woman looked like she would respond, but turned to a wall and knocked on it with her knuckles.

‘Epoolso,’ Lia incanted and Zelphie smiled. Lia’s brother, Rolan, was the new master of Ramazith’s Tower, he was a wizard, and like most wizards, was very eager to not only learn, but teach. Lia was not a wizard, but it was clear that Rolan was trying to teach his sister a few tricks. Her incantation wasn’t correct. Lia sighed and attempted again. Nothing, just a brick wall. ‘Well, there goes my chance at impressing a hero then,’ she muttered, crossing her arms. ‘I’ll go find Rolan,’ she said and Zelphie shook her head.

‘No, don’t bother him, I can do it. The Weave and I go way back,’ she teased and Lia smirked. Zelphie lifted her hand to the wall, giving the brick a sharp knock. ‘Pulso,’ she said quickly, and a blue light materialized around the wall in the shape of a door. Lia sighed.

‘Damned wizards always make everything look so easy,’ she said, opening the door and Zelphie laughed.

‘Do NOT call me a wizard in front of Rolan, his head will pop off,’ she said and Lia laughed.

‘Don’t tempt me,’ she said and led Zelphie through the door. Inside was a little room, a bed, a wardrobe, a desk and a small wooden bath. It wasn’t much unlike Zelphie’s actual home. It was just missing the fireplace. ‘I want to catch up with you later, but I’m sure you’re dying to scrape the illithid off of you. You probably haven't eaten yet, I’ll be back with some dinner, but relax, take a hot bath. I’ll be back in a little while, alright?’ She said and Zelphie smiled and nodded.

‘Thank you so much Lia, this is wonderful,’ she said and Lia smiled, leaving Zelphie alone to her thoughts. Zelphie turned on the taps the second the door shut and for the first time in hours, sat down on the floor. She wouldn’t put her dirty clothing on the bed. She began removing her boots. She was almost ashamed of the state of her body. Before the damned kidnapping she was never seen to have a hair out of line. Seeing her skin, smelling it, feeling it, she was going to need more than a hot bath to fix herself up. Dirt, grime, blood, viscera, bruising, cuts, all of it covered her body. She was so aware of it as her bath was running. She removed her robe next, wishing she had more than her lounge clothing to wear, as her robe deserved a proper fire burial. She peeled her pants and wrap shirt off. All the clothing became a puddle on the floor. She poked through the drawers of the wardrobe to find washcloths. She began to scrub at her skin with just water as the bath began to rise. She would make that bath a soup if she got into it now.

Once the bath was full and she had used up three cloths, she got into the tub and sighed out loudly. That might have been exactly what she needed. She would be very happy to soak her skin off here. She allowed the parts of her she couldn’t reach before to soak, dunking her head, hair and horns in the water. They were very sore, her horns. Having sore horns was a newer experience for her, but it was over now, it had to be over. The residual clean-up of the city aside, she could live as she normally did. No fear of ceremorphosis, no fear of Baahlists, doppelgangers, not even goblins. Her biggest worry now was finding a place to rest her head in the future. May Lia, Cal, and Rolan be blessed for giving her refuge for the night, she thought. Her fingers and tail played with the water a little until it became much too cloudy for her liking. She stood, giving herself one last go with a washcloth and stepped out. Now, she would be allowed to preen herself. Lotion her body, file her nails and oil her horns. Being able to take time to do this routine of hers was impossible these last months. If her preening tools had been worth any gold, they would have been sold ages ago, with most of her other possessions. Every moment awake was a moment to take advantage of. To do, to go further, to save their skins. There was a knock on the door and she quickly pulled a tunic over herself for quick cover. She walked over to the door and smiled, seeing Lia once more. The tiefling’s red eyes lit up seeing her.

‘I have never seen your skin so glowing before,’ Lia said and grinned, looking around the room a bit. ‘Oh, let me take those to the wash,’ she said, pointing at a pile in the corner of a towel, cloths and Zelphie’s clothing. Zelphie grimaced and walked over to the pile.

‘You should probably just burn them,’ she said and Lia laughed. Zelphie scooped it all in the dirty towel, which was the cleanest article and Lia took it easily.

‘I was going to bring you dinner, but me, Cal and Rolan would like you to join us. Well, Call and I want to catch up, we have so many questions, but I think Rolan just wants to show off what he’s done to the place,’ she said and Zelphie smiled.

‘Alright, let me just…’ she said and rifled through her bag, finding thick stockings to cover her legs. She followed Lia out of the room, taking a quick stop at a washing room to dump Zelphie’s soiled clothing. ‘So, the infirmary downstairs, I assume you all need help. I can help. After dinner, please put me to good use,’ she said and Lia smirked.

‘You will rest after dinner, I told you. We want to catch up. You can take a break from being the hero for one night, please. Let someone else take care of you,’ Lia said, repeating herself from earlier. ‘Besides, I’m sure you’re useless while you're so tired,’ she nudged Zelphie, who smiled. She still felt guilty, of course. She felt guilty because she did want to relax, but her heartstrings pulled as she was reminded of the chaos down on the streets. The chaos she caused. She did not argue, she hoped she would be right as rain in the morning. Then she would be able to help. Lia led her to a dining room, which was almost untasteful how ornate it was. Clearly Lorroakan’s taste still lingered in the tower. The table was very small, an assumed upgrade from the new master and his siblings. Cal and Rolan were sitting at the table, but stood when Zelphie and Lia appeared. Cal happily walked right over for a hug.

‘Oh Cal! It’s wonderful to see you in more comfortable clothing,’ Zelphie said. The ranger was clearly in need of a relax, his normal leather armor gone, a white shirt and relaxed pants it was instead. He looked like a normal person.

‘Look at you though! I didn’t know how small you were under those robes,’ he said with a happy chuckle letting her go.

‘I’m so glad you and Lia were able to get here safely, where you belong,’ she said as Rolan walked over to greet her as well.

‘Don’t give Rolan all of the credit for that, mate. He told us exactly who bumped us up on the guest list,’ Cal said and pressed a finger to his own nose playfully. Zelphie laughed and looked at Rolan. Imposing as always, in his robes, but as master of the wizard’s tower of Baldur’s Gate, it only made sense. He always had a sense of imposing about him, but right now, after everything, Rolan’s confidence was well measured. A hero of Baldur’s Gate he was.

‘Hello Rolan,’ Zelphie said and held out her arms to hug him as well. Rolan smirked and followed her lead. The hug wasn’t as warm, but about two months ago, Rolan was cussing out Zelphie for merely existing around him. She was very happy for a curt hug.

‘Hello Zelphie, I’m so glad to see you safe,’ he said honestly and Zelphie smiled.

‘Safe because of the quick learning of the new master of Ramazith’s Tower, I promise you. You’ll have to show me those cannons one day. Of course I assumed they would be powerful, but it was unbelievable the amount of damage they did to a red dragon, of all things,’ she said and Rolan’s red cheeks deepened.

‘I would be very proud to do so,’ he said and nodded to the table. The siblings and Zelphie made their way to the table and Zelphie sighed with joy. Tieflings, though very similar to humans in look and biology, had a lot of quirks. One such quirk was their diet. Zelphie did travel with Karlach, another tiefling who had a huge appetite, but her decade in the hells gave her different tastes. Zelphie swore she watched her friend eat actual dirt when it came to it. Otherwise, her companions ate like rabbits. Tieflings were carnivorous by nature, and to finally dine with a group made exclusively of Tieflings, she was very happy to see food that finally suited her diet. ‘I hope the food is to our hero’s tastes,’ Rolan said in response to her little gasp. Zelphie grinned and looked up at her hosts.

‘I’ll complain about the tadpoles and the Baahlists and the goblins and all of that until I die, but only to you three can I complain about Gale’s cooking,’ she said and the other three laughed. ‘You spend months and months with two Druids and tell me how you survive,’ she said and sighed, scooping up cooked marrow for her bowl.

‘Well, we did live in that grove for a while, I think we can understand your pain,’ Lia remarked and took a bite of her food. ‘You did have that vampire though, I’m sure he was helpful,’ she said and smirked. ‘In more ways than one, I’d like to think,’ she added and Zelphie snorted.

‘Yes, he was very giving when it came to his hunts, always very generous with the blood he caught,’ she said sarcastically and Cal looked at her. The truth was the opposite. Although a tiefling could live off of blood like a vampire, vampires had an insatiable hunger for it. Astarion did not like to share his kills.

‘Did he ever…bite any of you?’ Cal asked and Zelphie looked at him.

‘Oh yes, I trained him well. Always just enough to make him happy.’ Cal went deep red in the neck and Lia smiled at her brother.

‘Does it hurt?’ He asked curiously and Zelphie was about to answer but Rolan jumped in.

‘You let that vampire bite you?’ He asked her and she nodded.

‘Yes…honestly…at the time, we had all just landed from the kidnapping and I was desperate. I know it sounds delusional, but I was very happy to have a vampire fighting alongside me. I would do anything to make him more powerful,’ she said and shrugged. Rolan raised an eyebrow at her. There was the judgment in his face she was more used to. ‘If you think that sounds stupid, I’d love to tell you the truth about Gale,’ she said with a laugh and took a bite of dinner and sighed happily.

‘Gale, the wizard? Oh you can tell me whatever you’d like about him,’ Lia said and sighed.

‘Lia, please behave,’ Rolan said and Zelphie giggled.

‘I know you three had your own dangers, I used to wish you would join us, but I’m now thinking how productive we would have been if you had,’ Zelphie said with a smirk. That would have been fun, watching Cal shyly flirt with Astarion and Lia boldly flirt with Gale. Gale wouldn’t have a clue what hit him.

‘Probably not very. I wish we would have been more help, but Rolan insisted without our own tadpoles, we might have held you back,’ Cal said and Zelphie shrugged.

‘In some instances, Rolan’s correct. Halsin and Jaheira could not come to Moonrise Towers without alerting suspicion. Although, that might have to do with them knowing Ketheric to begin with,’ she said and looked at Rolan, who was just looking back at her. ‘If it weren’t for the chance that we were tadpoled, we wouldn’t have been able to save you two or Danis or Lakrissa,’ she said, speaking to Lia and Cal, but still looking at Rolan. He had been so frustrated that he had failed trying to save his sister and brother, where Zelphie had succeeded. But he had to know, without her gods damned tadpole, she would have failed as well.

‘May the tadpole be blessed,’ Lia said and Zelphie looked at her with a smile. ‘But…do you still have it?’ She asked and Zelphie shook her head.

‘No, it was part of the last command to the elder brain, destroy all illithids, destroy self. Halsin was able to confirm they were gone,’ she explained and smiled. ���Which is lovely for many reasons, but more so because my powers are back to what they were before the tadpole. Which means I can help downstairs and in the city. What do you need?’ She asked and Lia frowned.

‘Zelphie, we want you to relax,’ she insisted, but once more, Rolan spoke quickly. 

‘What would your talents be able to help with?’ He asked and Zelphie smiled.

‘A few things. I can cauterize and heal superficial wounds, though I’m sure you’ve caught most of those. And I have very powerful mending talents. Broken legs, broken anything. Even with the tower or store itself. My mage hand as well,’ she said and lifted her right hand, a blue one easily flowing out of it. It flew over to an end table in the corner of the large room and lifted it gently. ‘It’s very strong, please tell me what I can do,’ she said and Rolan watched her carefully.

‘We could really use it, thank you,’ he told her and Zelphie smiled. ‘I’ll meet you in the morning, we'll go over a plan,’ he said and Zelphie nodded, very happy to be of use. Zelphie’s tail lifted and swished slowly and happily, content that she wouldn’t just take advantage of her friend’s hospitality. She knew Rolan would be logical about this.

‘Rolan, we talked about this, we can’t ask the hero of Baldur’s Gate to do-‘ Cal began and Rolan’s eye contact with Zelphie shifted to his brother. He held up a hand and shook his head.

‘You are right, we can’t, but we won’t refuse her request, either,’ he insisted. ‘Whatever she wants, she’ll have,’ he finished and Lia chuckled and took a bite of her dinner. Rolan went a little red and shot his sister with an annoyed look.

‘So, how has it been here? I imagine you three haven’t even found every nook and cranny this tower has to offer,’ Zelphie asked to move the subject away.

‘Cal went through a strange portal and was lost for three hours,’ Lia said and Cal laughed.

‘Yeah, but if I hadn’t, we wouldn’t have found those scrolls Rolan needed for the cannons, I say well worth the struggle,’ he said, still laughing.

‘Yes, and you managed to piss if that djinni, which makes that part of the tower impossible to traverse through, you have my thanks, muttonhead,’ Rolan said and Zelphie giggled.

‘A djinni? Hopefully you didn’t free him,’ she said and Lia laughed.

‘Free? I’m not entirely sure, but he is long gone.’ Zelphie gasped, knowing that absolutely meant the djinni was free and causing havoc somewhere.

‘Another reason I regret allowing either of you to live here, I’m hoping a talented sorceress will prove to be much more careful as a housemate,’ Rolan said and Zelphie felt her tail swish a little more enthusiastically. Well, that felt nice, another little compliment from Rolan.

‘Thank you again, for letting me stay here for the night. I hate to be a pest, once I’m settled again, I’ll be out of your hair and find a way to pay you,’ Zelphie assured and Cal snorted.

‘Pay us? Come on Zelphie, this is our way of repaying you! How many times did she save our skins? Never mind the whole world saving bit, you’ve saved me Lia and Rolan personally more times than we deserve. Please, letting you sleep in that little room is the least we can do,’ he insisted and Rolan looked at Lia.

‘Little room? Where did you put Zelphie?’ He asked his sister.

‘One of the guest rooms on the second floor, I wasn’t sure where you would be comfortable,’ she answered and shrugged. Rolan shook his head and lifted a glass of wine.

‘No, we’ll have you move up to our floor. You’ll love it, the scenes from the balconies are beautiful. Well, they will be once the destruction is taken care of, of course.’ Rolan sipped his wine and Zelphie went a bit red.

‘I’m fine in the little room, besides, it’s just the one night, no need to fuss,’ she said and Lia looked at her.

‘What do you mean one night? Where are you off to? Aren’t you from Baldur’s Gate?’ She asked and Zelphie shrugged.

‘I can’t stay here forever, surely there is a place for me somewhere. Maybe near Cloakwood,’ she said and shrugged.

‘Your place is here,’ Rolan insisted. ‘Unless you are uncomfortable here, of course,’ he added quickly and Lia nodded, reaching over the table for Zelphie’s hand.

‘Please stay with us,’ she said softly.

That was that. Ramazith’s Tower of Baldur’s Gate was now owned by the tieflings. Zelphie would earn her place with the siblings and they would insist she didn’t need to. She already had and they were happy to have her. She listened to the three bicker and tease each other for the rest of dinner and once the food was happily finished, Rolan asked for a moment alone with Zelphie. He led her to a sitting area and was very earnest in his speech. Zelphie sat next to him on a large red sofa and he poured them more wine.

‘I wanted to thank you, personally. This isn’t easy for me to do, so I will apologize early on if I’m…clunky,’ he said and lifted his glass of sweet wine to his lips. Zelphie sipped her wine along with him, her head already a little spinny from dinner. Good food and quality wine was exactly what she needed.

‘Just you not being angry with me is thanks enough,’ she said, playful in her tone. Rolan hummed happily and shook his head.

‘I guess we can both say confidently which one of us deals with stress better,’ he said and smirked into his wine glass. ‘I will also apologize for my previous behavior. I really hope I can make that up to you. I can’t imagine why you would still consider myself worthy of your friendship,’ he said and nodded.

‘Please don’t apologize, Rolan. If I had siblings or any family out there, I’m sure I would have acted the same as you,’ she said and placed her hand on his. He looked down at her hand and then her face and placed his goblet down on a table in front of the sofa.

‘You don’t have any family?’ He asked her honestly and she shook her head.

‘No, I don’t even really remember what happened to them. I was around five, I went to bed one night and woke up in a hostel. All the woman who owned the place said to me was that my parents were gone. It hurt, but I don’t think a lot of our kind can’t empathize with that story,’ she told him honestly and she watched him chew on his bottom lip. ‘But it made me who I am today. I’m lucky I was born with magic in my veins. I might not have survived otherwise, it sounds a little backwards but I’ve always considered myself very lucky.’ Rolan’s yellow eyes read her face for a moment and placed his hands on his knees, preparing himself for something.

‘Could I trust you with something?’ He asked her, his voice a little softer than normal. Zelphie tilted her head, but nodded.

‘Of course Rolan,’ she told him and he sighed out.

‘No one knows this, besides Cal and Lia, of course but…’ he reached for his goblet and faltered. He placed his reaching hand back to his knee. ‘You and I share a similar story, I-uhm,’ he started, but Zelphie would not interrupt him. She wasn’t exactly sure where this was going. Had their parents also been lost? Murdered? Kidnapped? ‘My whole family…they were rounded up when I was ten years old. I ran and hid in a closet, my mother told me to hide. Like you, I still don’t know what happened. I uhm…I met Cal and Lia’s mother soon after that,’ he began and Zelphie’s brows furrowed.

‘You…met…?’ She asked and Rolan looked at her and he nodded.

‘Lia and Cal aren’t really my siblings. My true siblings are dead,’ he said plainly, but there was a quiver in his throat. ‘But their mother took me in…they are all I have, they were so easy to call me their big brother when we were children, I just…we never let that go,’ he said and Zelphie’s heart broke. She couldn’t help it. Even though this tragedy had happened to Rolan maybe two decades ago, she reached over and hugged him. He hugged her back and she felt his tail curl around her waist.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she said softly and he shook his head but did not let her go.

‘No, I’m sorry for you, you didn’t get a Cal or Lia. I’m the lucky one here, my dear,’ he told her softly. ‘Which…for many many reasons is why I’d like you to stay,’ he said and the hug ended. Zelphie sighed at him and tilted her head. ‘You need family. We tieflings are strong, but together we are stronger. We work better as a community. Besides the fact that without you the three of us would have died four or five times over, you deserve a family as well, Zelphie. Please, let us give you that,’ he said with such earnestness that Zelphie felt her nose twinge. That was very kind of Rolan. Zelphie had always adored the three siblings, she was always jealous of their relationship and wanted more than anything for them to be together and happy. How could she turn down such a sweet offer? ‘Please, Cal and Lia mean the world to me. If anything had happened to them at Moonrise, I wouldn’t be here. I owe their lives to you. And if you did not save me, make me see what kind of master Lorroakan was, Cal and Lia wouldn’t be here with me where they belong. I would still be being assaulted by a mad man. I could never, even if I lived a million years, I could never repay you for what you’ve done for my family and me.’

‘Rolan…’ Zelphie spoke softly, and Rolan kept his eye contact with her. She felt her eyes sting and she shut them.

‘Might I ask you what you’re thinking?’ Rolan asked her. She felt his hands in hers. She opened her eyes and looked at him once more. What a difference a few life changing events could make. One their first meeting, Rolan was obnoxious and annoyed at Zelphie. Their next few meetings Rolan would have leveled her. Now? Now she would consider him a very close friend.

‘I’m thinking too much, as I usually do,’ she said with a sad little smile.

‘Would you be unhappy here?’ He asked her and she shook her head quickly.

‘No, no no, it’s not that, not at all. No, I adore the three of you. I’m honored you would have me,’ she said and Rolan’s neck went a little red. She felt his tail twitch next to her on the sofa and he moved it away from her slowly.

‘Do you feel guilty?’ He asked her and she nodded. He chuckled and shook his head. ‘Well, that proves it right there you are an only child and orphan,’ he said and reached over for his goblet once more. He took a sip of wine and Zelphie mirrored him. Her mind was spinning. The wine, the food and the new opportunity, it was all a little much for her. That and the war she had just won hours ago. After a long drink Rolan looked back at her. ‘Maybe you will feel more…persuaded if I show you your new lodgings,’ he said and stood up, holding his hand out for her. Zelphie took another little sip and took his hand. She was helped up with a little swaying.

‘I think if I’m upgraded, I might feel more guilty,’ she said and he chuckled.

‘Don’t, for you will have restless nights hearing Lia yelling at me, or listening to me practice my incantations,’ he said and she giggled.

‘Still more calm than camp. You know what calms a githyanki to sleep at night?’ She asked Rolan as he led her from the sitting room. He looked down at her and shook his head. ‘Sword sharpening. Hours and hours of sword sharpening,’ she said and Rolan laughed, looking ahead.

‘Not too many of those here, I’m afraid. There were a lot of weapons tucked away, but I had them given to the Flaming Fist for the battle. What need did we have for them?’ He said and Zelphie just smiled up at him. He glanced down at her, a little proud of himself. He knew Zelphie and her selflessness would have liked to hear that. He smiled at her smile, his blush never fading his already reddened skin. 

‘We saw those weapons, Gale and I, when we were last here. Those were very mighty pieces, that was a wise decision,’ she told him and his smile faltered.

‘Oh, well, if I’ve impressed the Gale of Waterdeep, then I’m very happy,’ he said, poison on his lips and Zelphie frowned, but she kept her mouth shut. That was certainly a quick change of attitude. ‘Very kind of a well-off man to just leave his closest companion in the dust the second everything ended,’ he said and Zelphie’s brows stitched together.

‘Rolan, he needed to go back home. He has family in Waterdeep,’ she said and Rolan huffed.

‘And he left you behind, to live in a bungalow at best,’ he said and Zelphie stopped following him.

‘You shouldn’t speak ill of him. He took quite the liking to you, Rolan. If you are jealous of his relationship with Mystra, I can assure you-‘

‘Mystra? Jealous of him and Mystra? No, no, I’m angry at the way he threw you away like yesterday’s newspaper.’ He said, holding his hands behind his back. Zelphie’s tail began to whip back and forth. She would absolutely not tolerate anyone speaking ill of Gale Dekarios, even Rolan.

‘Threw me away? He, like everyone else, went back to their lives. He doesn’t owe me anything, certainly not more than Shadowheart or Lae’zel or Wyll or any of them. What are you talking about Rolan, why are you so upset with him?’ She asked, very confused, but angry at anyone who would put Gale Dekarios in a bad light. Rolan’s eyes narrowed and he blinked for a moment.

‘Weren’t the two of you…?’ He asked and Zelphie’s face twisted for a second. She then buckled over with laughter. Rolan had, for some reason, assumed Zelphie and Gale had an intimate relationship. Gale Dekarios was very handsome, charismatic and powerful, but no. Zelphie had only felt friendship and fondness for the wizard, not love, not that kind of love.

‘You thought Gale and I were an item?’ She asked and kept laughing. ‘Oghma’s left eye, no, no, no, definitely not,’ she said and grinned at Rolan who did not look very amused. He looked down at the floor. ‘Why would you have thought that?’

‘There were a few nights when we all stayed at the inn…I could have sworn…’ he said and bit his lip and Zelphie calmed down and nodded. She knew what he must have misunderstood.

‘At Last Light Inn? No, halfway through our adventure, Gale was given…some divine directive. From Mystra, and those nights where, yes, I’d go to him to comfort him were just that. He was battling a lot of inner demons and I was just being a friend, nothing more. So please Rolan, don’t go to battle with someone you should respect and admire as a colleague. He’s a good one for you to have,’ she said and placed a hand on Rolan’s arm. ‘Not on my account, anyway.’

‘I’m sorry, I should have asked you,’ he said and Zelphie shook her head.

‘It’s nice for someone to defend me,’ she told him and he smiled a little. ‘And it proves my point that I have tried to prove to Gale a thousand times,’ she said and her and Rolan kept walking.

‘Yes?’

‘Wizards are very fucking stubborn,’ she said and he snorted. They walked a little in silence, Rolan was feeling a touch embarrassed. Zelphie wouldn’t harp on it. She would send a sending spell to Gale to reach out to Rolan. She would have them fast friends in a jiffy.

‘Down here are Cal and Lia’s rooms,’ he said, pointing to a west wing. It was common knowledge that wizard’s towers were massive. Melphie still could not believe she was in the same building. She knew she would be getting lost. ‘My bedroom is right here, should you ever have need of me. Though, I will warn you, I’m not usually there. We’ll have a proper tour tomorrow before we all head downstairs. I’ll show you my normal hiding places,’ he told her and she nodded. ‘And I think you will do nicely just across the hall here,’ he told her, walking to a door down the hall to the right of his own room. He opened the door for her and she couldn’t help the little gasp that came from her mouth. 

The room was very large. It had a high ceiling and a balcony. Two large bookshelves covered the western wall, a canopied bed with royal blue blankets and pillows right across from them. There was a door connecting to a large washroom. Desk, a vanity and a wardrobe adorned the room as well. 

‘If there is anything you’d like to change, please feel free. I’ll be changing a lot of the comforts around here in the coming months. Please, this is your home now, make it yours in whatever way you please.’ Zelphie looked up at Rolan and beamed. He smiled down at her and nodded his head.

‘Rolan, I’m at a loss for words, this is beautiful. It’s more than I’ve ever had,’ she told him and he looked at her for a moment and nodded again. His tail swayed happily, very content with the compliment.

‘You deserve more,’ he told her firmly, sweetly. Zelphie smiled and looked down. She stepped closer to him and for the third time that evening, she hugged him tight. He hugged her back, resting his chin on her temple, their horns clinking together lightly. Zelphie felt a light moan escape from her lips at the tender feeling of her sore horns. She would not sleep easily tonight. Rolan looked down at her, worried at that sound. Goodness was his face close. ‘Sorry, they are very sore,’ she whispered and he nodded and he looked up at her horns, inspecting them.

‘Please tell me you weren’t head butting illithids,’ he said and let her go, reaching up to her horns to inspect them.

‘A girl had to do what she had to do…’ she said, but it wasn’t the truth. A tieflings horns were imposing, but not exactly strong enough to do battle like a devil or demon. Zelphie did have very large horns, so the pain she felt was from them being caught or pulled. She had been thrown around by enemies who got close enough to her. Rolan raised an eyebrow at her and she shrugged. ‘Truth being, they were usually used against me,’ she said and he sighed, nodding. No tiefling living could say they were never at least bullied with a horn push or pull. He still pressed a finger to the crown of her left horn, rubbing up lightly. It hurt a little, but a purr was brought through her throat. Rolan stopped touching her immediately.

‘Was that alright?’ He asked, completely red in the face. Zelphie felt her own skin burn and her happy tail fell and she felt it coil around her leg in embarrassment.

‘Yes, sorry, it felt nice,’ she said softly and Rolan nodded. He took a while to think about his next words and Zelphie bit her lip. She was about to wish Rolan a good night, but he spoke first.

‘I’ll get some oil for you, we’ll see if they just need a massage,’ he said and nodded.

‘Oh, you don’t need to,’ Zelphie told him and he smiled a little at her.

‘I’d like to,’ he said simply and turned on his heel. Zelphie noticed the happy curl of his tail as he left the room. He wasn’t going to be easily swayed off, that was for sure. Zelphie knew that, she meant what she had said, wizards were stubborn and Rolan was a prime example of that. He was stubborn, confrontational, proud and fiercely protective. Zelphie knew now that was probably the guilt he felt. The same guilt she felt when others took care of her. She understood him, and she would continue to not allow his blunt speech upset her. The truth was, she adored Rolan, just as she did Cal and Lia. And the other tieflings that she had grown so close to, Alfira, Lakrissa, Bex and Danis, all of them. The siblings were priority to her. They were good people, happy people, and people that deserved the world in her eyes. Even more so now. 

Zelphie walked to her new bed and sat down on it. The mattress was plush as anything she'd ever sat on. She giggled to herself, thinking of how she would get out of it in the morning. She touched the soft blanket, running her hands over it gently. What a difference, she’d never lived like this before. Her mind flashed to an idea of how her new housemates might have lived back in Elturel, its descent into Avernus. She shook her head, not wishing to let her drunk imagination run wild on that subject. She heard a loud crash outside and lifted herself off the bed. She walked to the balcony doors and opened them. Fireworks. Someone was shooting them off and she smiled. Rolan was right, the view was beautiful, she had a view of the river. She was a very lucky tiefling.

‘Exploring?’ A voice called from behind her. Zelphie turned around and smiled, seeing Rolan again, a little tincture in his hand. Her tail moved back and forth happily.

‘Someone is setting off fireworks,’ she said happily. Rolan smiled down at her and looked off as another few were set off.

‘Here I was, hoping you would get a good night’s rest,’ he said and walked past her to the edge of the balcony. ‘But, it’s the very least the city can do to celebrate its hero,’ he said and glanced back at Zelphie. She walked over and stood next to him.

‘Baldur’s Gate has many heroes,’ she corrected him and he gave her a sly little smirk. ‘At least one of them on this balcony,’ she said and gave him a playful nudge. He gave a proud little huff.

‘Oh please, that compliment cannot come from you. I wouldn’t even have had power the cannons gave you if not for you,’ he told her and she smiled. ‘Shall we?’ He asked her, nodding back inside. She followed him back into the room. Rolan sat on the bed and Zelphie sat on the floor in front of him, her back in between his legs. ‘Please tell me if this hurts,’ he told her and Zelphie closed her eyes, bracing for pain. Pain did not come. Starting at the crown of her horns, she felt his fingers gently glide. ‘When I was younger, I was bullied relentlessly. Other children had no issue grabbing me by my horns and pushing me around,’ he spoke and Zelphie opened one eye. ‘My horns very rarely went without being sore. This would always help,’ he continued and Zelphie closed her eyes again, relaxing. He had such a soft, low voice, very pensive. Between his voice and the massage, she would fall asleep like a brick. She leaned back, her purring continued and her tail coiled around Rolan’s leg. ‘It’s alright, right?’ He asked her and she nodded slowly.

‘Yes, you’re so good, Rolan,’ she said softly. She meant it. It felt wonderful. She had never been massaged before, not really, nothing like this. ‘You have a wonderful touch,’ she added. His fingers moved up her horn and she shuddered. It hurt a little, but the chills were worth the pain. Where did all of this gentleness and care come from?

‘Thank you,’ he said softly, very happy with the praise. It was not long into this lovely treatment that Zelphie leaned against Rolan’s leg and felt her aching body weigh heavy. ‘Such a simple thing to be taken care of, but it means the world, doesn’t it?’ He kept talking softly. Zelphie did not respond. She was still purring and her tail was still around his leg. ‘Zelphie?’ He called out softly. Nothing. She was asleep. Rolan froze for a second, not sure what to do. He moved a little and she stayed still. Rolan got off of the bed and shuffled away from Zelphie. It hadn’t taken very much to send her to sleep. She slumped up against the bed. Rolan pushed the blankets to the side and looked back at Zelphie. A strong transmutation spell would do the trick. Not that he liked using magic on an unconscious friend, but it was just to help her into bed. Slowly her body lifted off of the floor and he was able to drop her gently on the bed. He covered her with blankets and left. Zelphie slept the deepest sleep of her life that night, ready to take on what tomorrow would have brought.

[m00nlight-ramblings]

Evergreen: Chapter 1

You (Atriss) are an elf sorcerer, who somehow ended up with a tadpole in your brain. After having met multiple companions, they take on the biggest journey of their lives to fight the evil energy behind their capture and looming transformation. All the while, you fall for a vampiric elf, completely changing your life, and your heart.

This is the first chapter of Evergreen.

Pairings: Astarion x original female character (but still using "you"), among others down the road

Warnings: none. There will eventually be hurt/comfort, smut, angst, fluff, etc. Each chapter will have their own warning. The entire story is 18+ so MINORS DNI!

Word Count: 1.96k

A/N: This is my first multi-chapter fic, and I am so excited to write it for you all! Please note this will be a SLOW BURN romance, filled with lots of emotions and feelings! Enemies to lovers. Buckle up, it's gonna be quite the journey.

The only thing you remembered after the Nautiloid, funnily enough, was the sun.

It felt so wonderful on your skin, tickling you awake slowly. With your eyes still closed, and a sense of confusion in your head, you imagined yourself on a tropical beach somewhere...perhaps, you had accidentally dozed off for an early-afternoon nap. The sun warmed your cheeks, causing you to sigh contently, wrapped in the warm embrace of nature...the cherry on top were the birds singing some ways away.

Until your brain had snapped you back to reality.

Soon, the memory of the capture - you on your way home late one night in Baldur's Gate - and your forced stay on the Nautiloid came crashing back to you. Your eyes popped open and you immediately sat up, a wave of nausea induced by the pain running through your body. Clutching your stomach, you leaned over slightly, ready to expel the bile gathering in your stomach. How funny that mere moments before, you had subconsciously tricked yourself into thinking you were on some sort of vacation, when in reality, you were puking your guts up and fighting a dizzy spell.

Slowly standing up - with the help of the giant rock you were leaning against - you took in her surroundings. A small, almost sorry excuse for a beach, littered with bodies, and said bodies' belongings. You turned and saw the Nautiloid behind, parts engulfed in flames. The once feel-good sun was now causing a pounding headache and you winced from the pain, slowly walking around the beach.

"Hello?" You called, your voice raspy and hoarse, "Is anyone here alive?"

The only sounds that met you back were the sounds of flames and creaking metal. You took inventory of her person - completely devoid of all your belongings.

Well, fuck.

Your groaned and continued to walk, trying not to look at the dead bodies littering the beach.

Okay, you thought, trying to calm your breathing, I was captured by mind flayers and forced upon their ship. I have a tadpole in my brain. Their ship...crashed? And landed here. And I somehow...survived?

How in the hell did I do that?

As you continued down the beach, you noticed something glittering in the sand next to a body...gold. Pursing your lips together, you stopped at the body and thought for a moment.

"I'm probably going to need some of that..." You said out loud quietly. Even though there was no one around you - no one alive, anyway - you still looked behind yourself, making sure no one was watching. You snatched the few gold coins scattered around the body and put them in the pocket of your tattered pants. While reaching for the gold, you noticed the body had a dagger attached to a holster. You sighed, quickly reaching for the dagger while trying to somehow not touch the corpse you were currently looting.

"Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me." You said pleadingly to no one in particular. It wasn't the first time you had looted a corpse - after all, you had been on plenty of adventures - but you tried not to make a habit of it if you could.

After you had attached the dagger in its holster to your body, you continued up the beach, avoiding the crash in case any of the mind flayers somehow had survived. You were fairly certain you would be able to fight them, but at this current moment you were a little worse for wear, and truly wanted to find some sort of town or village. Passing by a fishing boat in a small dock, a flash of hope struck you - maybe you would luck out, after all.

After about an hour of walking, and still not meeting a living soul, you heard voices in the path ahead. Something along the lines of arguing. Quickly, you ducked into the nearest bush in case of enemies - you stayed completely still so you could hear their conversation.

"And I'm just telling you that this is a waste of our time - we shouldn't be helping a group of random Tieflings...we should be trying to figure out how to get these damned tadpoles out of our brains!" A voice in frustration, it's sound of a lyrical lilt.

Tadpoles! You thought, almost jumping out of the bush, They must be survivors of the crash! I'm not the only one.

"I agree with Astarion - this isn't our problem. And we shouldn't be wasting our time." Another voice spoke. She sounded annoyed, her words cutting and sharp.

More words were spoken, but they were mumbled. Leaning a bit forward out of the bush, you tried to get into a better position for hearing the argument.

"But as we were told before, this druid, Halsin, may be able to help us," A third voice - deep and melodic - said, almost trying to reason with the other two, "With Wyll and Karlach on our side now, I think we have a fair shot of taking on this goblin camp, rescuing Halsin, and therefore potentially getting these tadpoles out!"

More grumbling happened as you leaned forward just a bit more to hear it. Steadying your footing, you scooted a bit closer to the conversation.

"Yeah, that sounds like a fine idea! Besides, what do you have against us tieflings, you two?!" A booming voice rose, laughter following it.

"Darling, I'm not against tieflings, but-"

Soon you realized you couldn't hear the rest of the conversation. Inching forward ever so slightly, you grumbled. Suddenly, you lost your footing, you foot slipping under you, and sending you tumbling out of the bush with a loud THUMP!

And straight in front of the group arguing.

Immediately the group of five shouted and drew their weapons, pointed at you. You shrieked and jumped up, throwing your hands in the air.

"I come in peace, I promise!" You shouted, backing up.

"Says the istik who jumped out of a bush, chk!" A githyanki woman said, her sword closing in your throat, "Speak, or lose your head."

"Lae'zel, enough. Give her some breathing room," The deep voice from earlier spoke. It came from a handsome man, with flowing brown hair and purple robes, "Let's hear her out before we decide to end her life."

"Yes, that is a fantastic idea!" You said, trying to catch your breath. You cleared your throat, trying to lower the adrenaline coursing through your body, "Um...hello?" You offered, trying to look all of them in the eye.

The group was a weird mix - a devilish-looking tiefling, a fair haired elf, two humans, a githyanki, and a heavily clad half elf all stood before you expectantly. The half elf crossed her arms impatiently.

"Out with it, we don't have all day."

Oh, big surprise - she was the annoyed one from earlier.

"My name is Atriss," You offered, "I was on the Nautiloid...I also have a tadpole...I heard you mention it earlier?" The mention of the tadpole made the party readjust themselves in some way. When no one spoke, you kept going, "I'm just...trying to find some lodging. And to figure out what happened to me."

"Well, you're probably going to want to find a cure for this tadpole before you find lodging," The devilish-looking tiefling said, "Apparently those things are what turn you into a mind flayer, so you should probably work on that, first."

A wave of panic washed over you, "...I'm going to turn into a mind flayer?"

"Ah, do not panic...not yet," The brown haired man said, "Apparently, it should have happened already, and it...obviously hasn't. So, we seem to be safe...for now."

You nodded slowly, looking at the man, who, for whatever reason, was smiling as he talked about becoming a mind flayer.

"Where are you from, Atriss?" The second human man asked.

"Baldur's Gate...are we close to there?"

The elf and half elf laughed, almost a snicker. You looked at the elf and narrowed your eyes - something about him was a little off.

"Darling, we aren't even close," He spoke, the lyrical lilt from earlier, "But you're in luck, because that's where some of us are trying to get back to, as well."

"Yeah, soldier! Stick with us and we'll go on an adventure together!" The tiefling said, punching her fist in the air, "But first, we have some goblins to slay."

"What Karlach means is, we are going to find someone to take these tadpoles out of our heads. But in the meantime, there seem to be some...obstacles we must defeat first." The brown haired human said. Suddenly, he took a step forward and bowed slightly, "I'm Gale. Wizard extraordinaire."

"Oh, okay-"

"This is Karlach, like I mentioned earlier. And that is Wyll, Lae'zel, Shadowheart, and finally, Astarion." Gale pointed to each person with their introduction and I nodded to all of them, my gaze resting on Astarion.

His hair was a fair shade of silver, and his seemingly-perpetual smirk was quite enticing. His eyes were an odd shade of red...you had never seen that before. Standing confidently, you noticed him sizing you up as you stood there, taking in the group.

"Can I help you with something?" You asked him, raising your eyebrows. His body stayed still as a statue.

"Whatever do you mean, darling?" He retorted.

"Well, it just seems that you have a vast interest in me, and I was wondering what I could do in order to squash your interest." You jutted your chin out a bit, crossing your arms. Karlach whistled and slapped Astarion's shoulders from behind.

"Seems you've got some competition in the Sassy Department, Astarion!" She said, cackling wildly. Wyll joined in on her laughter, and you could see a smirk playing on Gale and Shadowheart's lips. Lae'zel stood frowning.

Astarion did a quick once over on your body before turning on his heels, taking off, "If we want to try and fight these damned goblins sometime soon, then we should get going." He said to no one in particular. One by one, the group followed suit, Karlach making eye contact with you and rolling her eyes before falling in line with you.

"Don't worry, soldier. That's a warm welcome if I've ever seen one!" She said, "Welcome to the squad! Nice to have another personality on board - don't tell her, but Lae'zel's brooding was becoming a bit too much for me." Her voice lowered so no one else can hear.

"I can already tell she's the 'warm and welcoming' type." You said back. Karlach snickered.

"First things first, we must head back to the grove so we can get a bag of holding and supplies for Atriss," Wyll commanded at the front of the group, "Atriss, do you have any gold?"

"Um..." You absentmindedly put your hand in your pants pockets, fingering the 5 pieces of gold you had stolen from the corpse, "...not enough." You said, ashamed. You watched Astarion and Shadowheart roll their eyes and look at each other. A blush rose over your cheeks - what was it about you that made Astarion dislike you already?

"No worries...I can work something out once we arrive." Wyll said, offering you a kind smile, "Let's get going...we'll gather some more information from Zevlor this evening, prepare for our departure, and set off first thing tomorrow. Sound good?"

The group murmured their agreements, as they took off towards the Tiefling Grove, the fact of the matter hit you: you were now embedded in a journey that, from the looks of it, was about to be very long, very dangerous, and very life-changing.

You swallowed your fear, trying to keep up with the rest of the group.

After all, what else was there to do?

---

First chapter of "Evergreen"! This was a bit more of a build-up...I know there wasn't almost any Astarion/Atriss, but I promise it's coming!

As always, it means the world to me if you liked/commented/reblogged...it especially helps me know that you all are enjoying it!

[wehaveimagineshere]

Request for Admin Ren! Could I request a scenario for Gale to react to his gender neutral crush accidentally saw him half naked because he was changing out of his dirty clothes? Their immediate reaction is to cover their eyes to look at the floor, apologise profusely, and leave! They're still embarrassed even when he finishes changing clothes but promised him that they would be more careful & tell them if there's anything he would like them to do to make it up to him! Please make it implied/suggested!

So I had to watch some romanced Gale scenes and I can't tell you how much I giggled and rewatched his little bop at the very end when you ask "Are you asking me to marry you?" His little wiggle is so funny. I sent it to Frost with tears in my eyes.

Okay so while I was editing, I realized I went off script just a liiiiiiittle bit. And typically I'd go and fix it but it was something that I kept referring to the rest of the prompt so I just kept it, cause otherwise I would've had to completely rewrite a good portion and I'd already been working on this for a while. Hopefully that's okay!

~*~*~

A blessed stream.

A strip of running water you could dunk your aching feet into but, more importantly, a strip of running water you could finally clean your dirty clothes in.

"I can get it started," you'd offered, shouldering off your pack in the middle of the camp. "Pile up your clothes and I'll take them to the stream."

"No, you shouldn't do it alone," comes Karlach, stabbing a pole into the ground to start pitching her tent.

"Then set up their tent," responds Shadowheart, already ruffling through her belongings and making a pile of dirty laundry. "The sooner we all set up, the sooner we can help them."

Dumping out your pack to make room, you start making the rounds. Shadowheart gives you explicit instruction to not mix her clothing with the others, a small pack pushed into your hands. Wyll also has his own separate pack, but with the promise that he'll do his own clothing. Astarion gives a playful little thank you and something about his underwear you tune out.

As you head for Gale, you're situating the different packs in your arms and on your shoulders, not paying attention to what's in front of you as you pause by his belongings. "My pack has room if you need." Wiggling that off your arm, you sling Wyll's pack onto your back. With your arms a bit more free, you finally glance up.

And your eyes snag on what you see.

Bare skin, muscles shifting as Gale tosses his shirt into a pile of clothes. Your eyes linger on his shoulders before dipping down to his waist, and when he notices your stunned presence and turns to face you, your gaze catches on his stomach.

"Give me just a moment, please," you hear him speak. "I'm almost done sorting."

Your lips press together as you watch his muscles dip, the way they ripple when he moves, the way they stretch when he reaches for something.

Oh gods. Stop staring stop staring stop staring--

"Okay. All ready." Tying a pack, he holds it out to you. "I'll make sure to settle quickly so I can help." When you don't move, you can practically hear the smirk when he says, "I believe my face is up here."

Face threatening to melt off your skull, you spin on your heel, palm pressing against your eyes as you turn your back to him. "I'm so sorry, I--"

"Not that I don't like being ogled at."

"That's so rude, I didn't--"

"I assumed my physicality wasn't as it was, what with sequestering myself in a room for a year. I suppose I had nothing to worry about."

If someone were to touch your face, they'd be singed. "I'm so sorry!"

He chuckles. "It's alright."

"It's not! I was staring and that's rude and there's a whole consent thing and--" oh gods you're rambling "--I shouldn't--I'm leaving."

Quick as a rabbit you dart off into the trees, head ducked to hide your molten face, hoping no one else in camp watched your absolute trash fire of a bluster. Reaching the isolated stream, you set all the packs onto the floor, crouch down, hide your face against your knees, and breathe.

In. Out. In. Out. It's not the first time you've seen a shirtless Gale, but that had been with his consent, a moment shared between the two of you. Not in the middle of camp. Sure, it wasn't your fault he'd foregone a shirt, but you didn't have to stare.

Gods. Why couldn't you just be normal? You're an adult, for crying out loud, not some bumbling teenager. The butterflies in your stomach around the wizard was one thing, but you just always became so self conscious--

Scrubbing your face, you inhale deeply and rise back to your full height. Stepping out of your shoes and rolling up your pants, you grab the first pack and get to work, hoping you can work off the embarrassment.

It works. You start feeling your heart calm and thoughts settle, finding a rhythm and ignoring your cold hands and feet.

"How can I help?"

Heart stuttering, your bottom lip gets trapped between your teeth as you turn. "Hi."

Gale smiles. "Hi." He's fully clothed this time, though he does kick off his shoes to join you in the stream after setting down more packs. A finger is held up as you open your mouth. "No apologies. You did nothing wrong."

You frown. "Ogling is wrong, Gale. At least in public." A tilt of the head. "Ish. Public-ish. That doesn't matter." You huff, feeling the creeping embarrassment return. "I feel bad. I feel like I did something I shouldn't have and the only way for me to feel better is to try to make it up to you somehow." Rubbing your forehead, you give a helpless shrug. "What can I do? Aside from, you know, making sure I don't do it again?"

Brown eyes study your face, a smile growing only to turn into a smirk as he steps closer, hands coming to rest on your hips. "I have many different ideas." He leans in, breath tickling your lips, voice dropping. "So many different ideas."

A different kind of heat floods your body as you swallow. Settling your own hands on his chest, you mutter, "Any I should know about?"

His lips catch your own, hungry but controlled. "Shall I show you?"

[nightlyrayne]

So after 700 hours of gaming, four restarts due to glitches, five or more different startings, I finally FINALLY finished a playthrough of BG3. SPOILERS BELOW THE CUT

So, the playthrough I finished, funny enough, is a Durge run with my girl Octavia. She's a fucking badass monster who wooed God Gale and Ascended Astarion (thank you mods 🙏) and I saved before making the big choice of whether or not to take control yourself or kill the netherbrain. And (of course) I had her control the brain first choice. And I'm kind sad that there was nothing more. Like, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing her sit on that throne of hers and say 'In my name's like the Queen she is. But Ascended Astarion, who was also all for taking over everyone and the world, was not standing by her side. Even after watching with a satisfied smirk as she took control of their friends. And even more so, since he was by her side, I'm a little disappointed there wasn't an ending with them both showing, taking over the world afterwards. A bit of lackluster ending tbh.

HOWEVER, I did reload so I could see the other ending(s). Something definitely glitched with my mod, as I am supposed to get all endings of the ones my 'Tav' is dating. But I had to reload in for those as well. Nonetheless, here are my thoughts on those.

First: God Gale. Sad I didn't get a bed scene with him, but also understandable since he was away looking for the crown. Loved that I could act like I totally didn't want to be a goddess by Gale's side to Tara and had her wanting me to visit Gale's mom. Gale, darling, love. You wouldn't have gotten the crown without my help in the first place. Step down from the clouds a bit and kneel to your queen goddess. Love you, kisses. Thank you for taking me up to heavens with you my love 🖤

Second: Ascended Astarion. Ho ho ho oh my gods. Haha I hate that I love it. But it's also so perfect for my evil little Queen. She fits by his side to rule so perfectly. The matching outfits he insisted on and the subtle "I should have been the one throwing the party" 😂 My darling, you can throw one at our castle and invite all our dearest friends. I promise. Now, pour me some blood so I can sit up on your lap

Over all, still a 10/10. Looking forward to finishing my other 'Tav's to see their endings. I'll be sure to update the poly mod for my self insert too cause I'll be romancing Shadowheart, Gale, Astarion, and Halsin 🥰🖤🖤

I leave you with the gorgeous Queen herself: In Her name

[crossdressingdeath]

Gale: I'm sure Mystra will summon me soon enough, but until then, I propose we celebrate our victory the mortal way - with a drink in our hands, and reckless abandon in our hearts. Halsin: I am seldom one to imbibe, but even I shall make an exception on a day like today. I think we have earned it, no? Kyvir: A celebration sounds perfect. Astarion: Yes! We should see if the Elfsong's still standing. I won't imbibe, but I'll be happy to be away from here, and in your company. I honestly don't mind what we do, once we get - ow! What the - oh gods. Oh no. Well... it was nice while it lasted. Argh! I'm sorry, I - I have to go! Minsc: We will find you, Astarion! AND BOO WILL BRING A SUNFLOWER!

To be entirely fair to Larian, the need to provide epilogues for every character's story makes it difficult to focus on any individual one for any length of time. Astarion's in particular is followed by Karlach's, which for obvious reasons isn't something that can be delayed while the group finds Astarion and makes sure he's okay. However it's still an absolutely terrible ending.

It's like... there being this scene of Astarion's tadpole-induced immunity to sunlight wearing off makes sense and it would be just as big a misstep as having his last appearance in a run where he's not romanced be this to skip over it in his spawn ending. But handling it this way is also a misstep. Similarly to Karlach's, it's such a horrible ending for a member of your party? Especially with Astarion having been such a massive fan favourite basically from day one, it just feels kind of mean to have this be his good ending if you haven't romanced him. Minsc saying that he and Boo will bring Astarion a sunflower is sweet, but I'm aware that the rest of the party members' responses are... less sweet.

Actually, one good solution might be to have essentially two epilogue scenes? ...Three counting the last conversation with your lover. But you've got Karlach and Lae'zel's endings (and Wyll's if he goes with Karlach) which would have to happen pretty immediately due to the circumstances of those endings, and then the others could happen a bit later. Like... just spitballing here, but maybe with everyone else you go to the Elfsong like Astarion suggests and that's where you talk to them all. With Astarion in particular, that way instead of him having to sprint off in a mad scramble to find shade before he dies he could step out onto the street to look at the destruction, realize the sun's hurting him again, and just step back inside. It would keep that moment of him realizing his time in the sun's up without having the last thing you see of him if you haven't romanced him being him having to run for his life while the party just stands there and watches.

[malicedafirenze]

I unintentionally skipped a lot of the romance content in Baldur's Gate 3 and I want others to learn from my mistakes:

So: I managed to lock myself out of romance entirely and ended up alone, which was a huge bummer and a serious crack in my motivation to play the game. I finished my playthrough (because I was already close to the end of Act 3 when I realized it), and plan to do another one eventually. I'm making this post in hopes of a) keeping others from making the same mistakes and b) to possibly get some additional insight re. what to watch out for in my next playthrough.

PSA: Pick a Partner before Act 3

The key learning here for me was this explanation from the poly mod

In BG3, romance is divided into 2 steps: dating and relationship(also called partner). Dating is basically where you are at after the 1st romance scene. Relationship is where you are at after the 2nd romance scene (relationship also unlocks the kissing menu). BTW, If you enter A3, all dates will break up with you (partners won't, ofc).

I hadn't realized this until well into Act 3, at a point where going back to a save to properly fix it would have meant replaying large parts of Act 2 as well - I decided to finish my run instead and then start a completely new one later.

Note: lots of spoilers below. (click here to read this post on reddit instead)

My Romance Woes

I read in advance that you couldn't romance multiple people (except for the specific Halsin combos with Shadowheart and Astarion) and therefore turned down Gale and Lae'Zel early in the game (not realizing you could just date/bonk them without fully committing or getting anyone upset)

I didn't take approval all that seriously, thought I'd have more opportunity to fix things later. I was playing pretty good guy, and ended up with high approval for Karlach and Shadowheart, but low for Astarion. Weirdly, I don't recall an option to romance Shadowheart (no clue what I missed?) and the only option I had for Karlach was at the Tiefling party, where I went with Astarion instead. I had a scene or two with him, but then didn't progress further in the relationship, without really realizing what I was missing.

I wanted to romance everyone, sat on the fence for too long, and ended up not romancing anyone at all, by missing a thing or two in act 1 and 2 and being too late to fix it in act 3. Don't be like me, it feels bad man.

Early Act 3, I got Astarion's breakup dialogue ("we haven't spent a night together in some time" --> him explaining it was just transactional and he doesn't see the value in it anymore) and got super worried, but when trying to look up if I'd messed up, I didn't find a clear answer for without more spoilers, so I just continued playing Act 3, including all of the companion quests.

I later learned that I missed out on at least one important Astarion romance interaction by not going to Moonrise Towers until after freeing Nightsong. (when the Towers are already on high alert, i.e. I could only fight and not have a lot of conversations)

After realizing I had messed up companions romance, I instead fucked everyone it was unwise to fuck (Emperor, Mizora, Harleep...) for fun and to see what would happen... but chickened out and reloaded after Emperor and Mizora. Still, got to enjoy some fun content that way!

The ending I got (going to Avernus with Karlach) was really cool and made me cry a lot. I then did try to reload my last save though, to see if I'd get any other epilogue content if I didn't go to the Hells, but... apparently that scene on the docks (Astarion goofily running off, everyone kinda agreeing to go party after this, no other conversations with anyone again.... is just... it?

Idk how much of this is the lack of romance, but I really felt like something was missing there. I at least wanted to talk to everyone again one last time.

This is a post about my romance failures and regrets so I'm not gonna talk about everything else that I loved about the game, but just in case this is getting a bit too negative: I had an absolute blast with the whole game regardless, I'm stoked to give it another go the "proper" way (i.e. with romance). I also generally think it's really fucking cool that this game's romance options depend on how you behave, and that you can't just e.g. give someone the right kind of gift 20 times in a row to make them love you, like it works in games like Stardew Valley.

Next Playthrough Plans

I'll probably wait for another patch or two - considering how much got fixed and tweaked with the first three patches, I suppose it's worth to wait a bit and see what's coming

I'll play with the Poly mod next time and try to romance all of the Origin characters.

I plan to play with the camp notifications mod, as well as the approval ratings in dialogue mod. Both in hopes of being able to game the romance a bit better and get much of the romance in one playthrough

I'll play Dark Urge (haven't seen any of that so far!), but probably still go for a "good" playthrough mostly

I plan on equipping & levelling all Origin companions and switch them out more freely, in order to get approval from everyone and edit my party as makes sense depending on story events (e.g. take Lae'Zel to the Creche, take Gale to the Ketheric fight...)

I want to romance everyone. I already saw some tips for early game Astarion approval and assume the aforementioned mods will help in optimizing this

Am probably not gonna do anything all that differently otherwise because my heart can't take an actually evil playthrough

Aand that's about it. As mentioned, I'm mostly posting in case this helps anyone else.

I was really damn sad when I realized I had locked myself out of all romance, because the romance was a significant part of my motivation to start playing this in the first place. At the same time, I loved so much about the game that I still got a lot out of it in 110+ hours even with minimal romance content.

If you see any red flags about my plans for the next playthrough (or if you have experience with the mentioned mods!), I'd appreciate comments and insights. Other than that, here's hoping others can learn from my mistakes. Thank you for reading <3

[yarpharp]

Okay but amidst all the insane thirsting for Astarion, I am that one demisexual who just can't help but wonder: if you actually got to the choice where you and him just TALK all night instead of fuck, and you ACTUALLY got to talk your way through a dialogue tree instead of an immediate fade-to-black, what the hell would you two talk about?

I'm not saying that Astarion isn't a conversationalist. He had to make himself extremely good at inane small talk and faking interest when he lured people back to Cazador, of course he's good at making conversation. Even when you talk to him outside of the romance chatter, he's undeniably suave for all that a lot of his lines feel heavily rehearsed or carefully curated.

But if you put him in a situation where he actually had to engage personally in a discussion, what would he offer? He's spent 200 years under the control of an absolute motherfucker who repeatedly tortured him. When did he have a chance to indulge in anything but what he was told to be? Did he manage, with his roguish skills, to steal books and things? Did he hide and hoard a very beaten but precious collection of nonsense tomes under the floorboards of a room, or in an overlooked nook somewhere? Did he have a brief stint where, amidst his time hunting for the next mark to bring to Cazador, he chatted up some amiable merchant guild people? How good was he at toeing the line in such a way he could have the smallest inkling of a social life?

It's questions like these that end up leaving me to think of wild possibilities. Yeah, maybe he did have a weird collection of books. He might know how to sew very elaborate embroidery patterns from some book he stole from some merchant daughter's bookshelf. He might be shockingly knowledgeable about a stupidly specific type of regulatory city laws that've been outdated for eighty years because he once seduced a would-be prosecutor for the courts of Baldur's Gate. Perhaps he did casually chat with some fellows from the Alchemist's Guild because they were happy to tell him about their crazy experiments while never remembering his face as a result of running on barely five hours of sleep. Thus, he knows a LOT about experimental poisons or how to turn healing potions into bombs using only one obscure ingredient that anyone can grow in their city garden. Maybe he did have a few acquaintances he was fond of but never actually let himself care about too much out of fear, and when he found out they had died of old age while he kept living in a fucking nightmare he still gets choked up about it (but he does a terrifyingly good job of hiding just how bothered and upset he is about it, because surviving Cazador meant being very good at faking irreverence in the face of what he was actually feeling).

Or maybe none of that happens. Maybe he's still too disbelieving and mistrustful of your honest interest to only chat and not immediately engage in sex. He'll instead just let you talk, and make a few comments. He'd rather watch you and listen to you than be any more vulnerable than he already feels. Such is his way, in the name of keeping himself safe.

... Yeah. This shit fucks me up.

[lelalyo]

I finished my first run of BG3 yesterday!

I had an absolute blast and I will definitely play again but I think my ending bugged tf out.

I got the ending where Gale talks about taking the crown for himself and becoming a god despite the fact that I signed the deal to give it to Raphael. (I didn't break into the House of Hope to get the contract back because I accidently turned my Gale into a power hungry manic by saying I thought gods weren't shit and I really didn't want this version of Gale to have it because there's no way I'd could ever trust him with it - they really nailed that look of complete madness with him, I swear. Anyway, Ik Raphael ain't that trust worthy either but I imagine by the time he manages to conquer the hells, if he does, everyone would be long dead by then so it can be the next lot of heroes problem LMAO)

Possible bug aside, I feel like the ending was a little ... abrupt compared to the rest of the game? No party to check in with everyone, no epilogue to explain what happened to everyone after, just "here's your boo planning your future with you, bye" And speaking of boos, I romanced Astarion and when he started burning in the sun, there ain't NO WAY in hell my Tav would've just stood there, watched and then stayed to watch the sunrise after he ran off. No way. My Tav would've dimension doored him outta there ASAP or would've run after him to cover him with her cloak at the least - I mean what kind of partner would just look at their significant other burning to death and be like "this is fine"????

Then there's the whole thing with Karlach - I made her a mind flayer because I really thought it was the best option this time around and I'd really like to know what happened to her. She gave up so much for everyone and I just feel like she should stay with my Tav and Astarion while we look for a cure for his sunlight issue. We could also look into helping Karlach in some way too because she really does deserve better.

That said, whatever issues I have with the endings - it doesn't change the fact that this is the best game I've played in YEARS. I really thought the RPG genre had lost it's spark but BG3 just showed me that there's still devs out there that care about telling a good story.

[undermounts]

bite the hand - chapter 1: slow knife

pairing: Astarion/The Dark Urge

summary: Astarion helps her hide the body. Romance ensues.

“Power,” Irileth says softly, and she is surprised by the silkenness of her own voice. It sounds like it comes from another person, another life. “Is that all you like about me?”

Astarion’s laugh is a sultry and wicked thing. “Darling,” he croons, and with his free hand, he reaches out to twirl a lock of her white hair around his slender finger. “There are a great many things I like about you.”

Ah. She wonders just how much he would like it if she told him what a pretty corpse he would make.

check it out on AO3

It seemed fitting that Irileth should return to the world surrounded by violence and smoke. Her rebirth went much like she assumes it had before: with her kicking, screaming, and covered in blood.

The nautiloid, the mind flayers, the cambions—all of it felt like a too-vivid nightmare. When Irileth first surged back into consciousness, sodden on the shore of the ravaged beach, she’d nearly mistaken her time aboard the illithid ship for a vicious hallucination.

But sure enough, the wreckage is there, spread out on the beach below her, a heaping mass of smoke and cinder. The rubbery material that made up the entire structure of the ship juts out in jagged ends. It is the vivid purple of a fresh and perfect bruise, but as Irileth stares down at the ship, a different memory comes to mind: glossy white peaking through shimmering red, like a pearl embedded in sumptuous, briny flesh. Cartilage.

The nautiloid is a beast, some organic monstrosity, that carried her, screeching through the Hells. It has been two days since the crash, and still, it moves below, massive tentacles twitching in the shallow sea. Irileth will be glad when it’s finally dead, if such things can die, although it fills her with an almost glib satisfaction to see it slowly burn. 

Perhaps death can take its time.

Irileth reflects on the chaos, the catastrophic event that marked the beginning of her new, wretched life. Somewhere below is the pod that held her captive—for how long, even now she cannot say. When she roused to wakefulness sometime after the tadpole insertion, she threw herself against the pod door until it gave way and, all flailing limbs and atrophied muscles, she struck the floor of the nautiloid with a pathetic thud. 

The scent she remembers well: the acrid tang of smoke in her throat, the sulfur-stink of burnt hair filling her nose. The memory alone nearly makes her gag, the sense of revulsion at odds with the almost pleasurable shiver that runs down her spine.

How her head had pounded! Blood loud in her ears, it drowned out the din of a nautiloid under siege. In it, she heard the only scrap of self that remained in this strange, empty body.

Irileth. My name is Irileth.

By comparison, camp tonight is quiet, although not quite at peace. They are camped in the mouth of the overgrown ruins they cleared out that afternoon, not far from the Druid’s Grove they plan to enter come morning. Nearby, Gale broods by the fire, studying the scrolls he found in an ancient study in the depths of the temple below. Shadowheart has retreated to the furthest corner of the pavilion, her makeshift tent conveniently planted on the exact opposite side of the site from Lae’zel, who is silently polishing her armor with a near religious zeal.

And Astarion—well, Irileth tries not to look at him too much.

She can sense him though. The tadpole has made them all too aware of each other’s presence these past few days. Irileth knows the elf is sprawled out by the fire on the only decent bedroll they’d managed to recover today. And of course, he’s reading—of all things—one of the books they’d found in Withers’ chamber. 

As if this were some sort of vacation, not an abduction. Absurd.

Although, he hasn’t turned a page in quite some time. Either it’s dense reading, or, Irileth has the uncanny feeling that he is watching her too.

Astarion is clever. And obviously, a performer. From the very start, he tried to deceive her, claiming he had “one of those brain things” cornered, before pointing a dagger at her throat. Yes, clever indeed. Nevermind the fact that she’s fairly certain her own blade would have found his sternum first.

Irileth holds one of her daggers now as she thinks, cradling it with one hand while its point presses into a fingertip of the other, the pressure just shy of breaking skin. 

She quickly discovered that she is remarkably skilled with a blade. It was an easy thing, to sever the wings of an imp, to sink the blade into the gelatinous bodies of the intellect devourers that scuttled among the wreckage. Pale pink cerebrums quivering, the foul little beasts died shrieking—one, two, three, went the simple beat. What her mind forgets, the body remembers.

Even Shadowheart seemed impressed.

“You fight well,” the cleric had said approvingly, tossing her head back, black braid swaying like a pendulum. She held herself with pride, chin tilted up, and motes of golden light still fluttered around her fingertips. Behind her, ribbons of smoke curled up from the lumpy body of a charred devourer. “Perhaps our survival isn’t such a distant prospect.”

But the intellect devourers were one thing. The bodies in the temple behind her… Irileth shivers in remembrance of the way they fell beneath her blade, how each little death spurred her on, left her craving more.

Where did she garner such an affinity for weapons? (For death?) Any will do, but daggers, she thinks now, must have always been her favorite. Why else do her senses jump to attention with such fervor? The weight of them are familiar in her hands and Irileth feels that this knowledge is intimate: the sting of a slice, the pressure under which skin will give, part, and burst.

When she reaches out for the how and why she knows these things, there is only blankness. A void where the whole of her used to be. It makes her shudder with apprehension when she thinks of how little she knows of herself.

A breeze flutters up the cliff face where Irileth stands vigil, bringing with it the still glowing embers of the wreck. From this distance, the stench of the illithid ship is nearly diminished, mostly smothered by the freshwater earthiness of the River Chionthar and the surrounding flora.

“It won’t be long now,” a voice croons to Irileth’s right and she startles, suppressing the urge to glare at Astarion as he sidles up beside her, his gaze fixed on the wreckage. 

“For it to die, I mean,” he adds, glancing sidelong at her. “That’s what you’re waiting for, isn’t it?”

Quiet, too, Irileth thinks with an almost bitter admiration, adding onto the list of things she needs to be wary of around him. When he wants to be, at least.

There’s a certain curl to his lips, just visible in some turns of the firelight, and she knows he enjoys having the jump on her.

“Do you think it can?” she asks, lifting a brow. “I’ve been wondering.”

“All things do,” Astarion replies lightly. “Or at least that is my hope.”

“I think I’ll rest easier when it does,” Irileth admits carefully, well aware of how his crimson eyes, just a shade darker than her own, seem to pierce right through her. As much as he likes to feign indifference toward her and the others, Astarion is searching for something, always. Information, perhaps, to use or to be wary of.

“I agree with you wholeheartedly on that front, my dear.” He sounds almost somber, Irileth thinks, as his attention lingers on her for a moment more. But then Astarion shifts back to the nautiloid, where his edge whets once more. “But I certainly won’t mind if it suffers a little while longer.” 

It unnerves Irileth, how open Astarion is with his casual displays of cruelty and violence. It feels perverse, like he is, albeit unknowingly, making a mockery of the restraint she so desperately clings to. Just last night, he’d asked her how she’d like to be killed, should ceremorphosis finally take place. 

Knives, poison, strangulation—whatever you’d prefer.

She’d nearly laughed at his question, ruled by her giddy madness. As if she could really pick just one.

But in some part, Irilieth is relieved and grateful to know that this well of violence she seems to carry within her is not so singular. How odd, the things that bring people together.

“Then we are in agreement on that as well,” she confesses and Astarion barks out a laugh. His laugh is harsh and startling, and it might just be the realest thing about him so far.

“You know, you’re quite fun when you want to be.” He hums, amused, and returns her stare with a look of appraisal. “That is, when you aren’t playing the hero, I mean. Watching you fuss over our friends is so sweet, it’s sickening.”

“I try,” Irileth replies dryly and Astarion’s mouth curves in amusement as he steps forward, pressing into her space. Stubbornly, Irileth forces herself to stay put, which only seems to add to his interest. She is starting to understand his game—how he likes to pick her brain, make her react to him. Like he’s testing how far he can push.

“I mean it. It was a spectacle, darling,” Astarion continues, his voice dropping to a near-conspiratorial purr. The tone of it sends a sweet trill through Irileth’s bones. “Watching you dispatch those bandits today with such a flourish! It really makes me wonder who exactly you were before all of this.”

The laugh Irileth releases is rueful. 

“You and me both,” she mutters and Astarion rewards her with one of his coy little smiles. (How many men and women have fawned over that smile? He offers it like a gift, like a treat, like a trap. She wants to take it.)

“You must admit, it’s a fascinating little mystery,” Astarion drawls, tilting his head as his eyes roam over her. “Very intriguing, your memory loss. Perhaps you were a bard? No. A thief? An assassin? Hm, yes, that would track.”

Irileth’s stomach twists at that and she fixes him with a look. “You’re teasing.”

“I am,” he admits, white teeth shining in the firelight. His smirk is in full bloom now, and those red eyes, so magnetic, narrow. “It’s too much fun with you. But I might be right. You’re quite the punisher, after all.”

Irileth’s mouth dries, even as her grip on the dagger firms and the tip presses harder into the pad of her forefinger. Any more force and it will burst skin. “It was just battle, Astarion. They would have killed us if we didn’t fight back. Nothing more.”

Astarion grins like they both know she’s lying.

“Of course, darling, of course. It all worked out in the end. We got into the temple and picked up our very own magical skeleton as well,” he says flippantly, brandishing his book through the air toward Withers. His expression turns sly as he thumbs his chin innocently. “But there’s nothing wrong with a bit of pain for those who deserve it.”

A shudder passes through Irileth, and the sensation is not entirely unpleasant. She wants to agree, wholeheartedly. It almost feels as if her very marrow calls for it.

But Irileth reins in the impulse. There is a feeling in her gut that makes her hesitate. Perhaps it is the phrasing she takes issue with, or the intent, but she is… conflicted. That familiar headache is starting again, a throbbing at the base of her neck that sparks through her temples.

“And who,” she asks, rolling the hilt of her dagger in one slow circle, “decides who deserves it?”

She has surprised him with this question. Astarion’s brows lift and his eyes dart across her face, searching. He has the same look about him, Irileth thinks, when he’s scouting an area and checking for traps. 

(What a cautious life one must lead, to be constantly anticipating that which would hurt you.)

“You really are asking, aren’t you?” Astarion huffs, drawing back. “It is up to the powerful, my sweet,” he answers as if it is obvious. “He who holds the cards decides how they are dealt. Today, that was you.”

A thrill runs through Irileth at that, one she quickly tries to tamp down.

“Don’t look so scandalized,” Astarion tuts and he grazes the back of his hand down her arm. His fingers are cold and dry. 

Like death, Irileth thinks, suppressing the urge to shiver in delight.  

“I quite like a bit of power,” he says softly, and gods above, he is laying it on thick tonight, this seduction. “It’s… alluring, especially on you.”

Hells. Astarion truly is quite a vision, even when he’s looking at her like she’s something to be toyed with. Perhaps especially then. 

Irileth is overcome with the sudden desire to smile back at him. It’s adorable, she thinks, brazenly, madly—the notion that he could pose a real threat to her (Hah!). Astarion could never truly harm her, but maybe… Irileth’s blood burns hot. Oh, maybe he might bite back.

Wretched thing , Irileth admonishes herself, for that idea should not appeal to her so. But she has lost the run of herself, now. Emboldened and a little incensed, Irileth finds that she wants to indulge him in his little game.

“Power,” Irileth says softly, and she is surprised by the silkenness of her own voice. It sounds like it comes from another person, another life. “Is that all you like about me?”

Astarion’s laugh is a sultry and wicked thing. “Darling,” he croons, and with his free hand, he reaches out to twirl a lock of her white hair around his slender finger. “There are a great many things I like about you.”

Ah. She wonders just how much he would like it if she told him what a pretty corpse he would make.

Irileth jerks away, her heartbeat suddenly thunderous in her ears as her hair snags around Astarion’s finger, then gives and uncoils. Revulsion and shame roll through her at such a depraved thought— where had it come from? (Inside, inside!)

Hastily, she shoves her dagger into her waistband, struck with the irrational fear that her own hands might act on their own accord. Something stings, badly, though she’s not sure what it is, nor does she care.

“Are you alright, dear?” Astarion’s voice is still a sugary drawl, but there is alarm, no doubt on his face. Irileth can tell he is suspicious of her behavior; his gaze was magnetic before, but now it pierces, as if he’s found a gap in her defenses and plans to twist the knife in. “You’ve gone rather pale.”

“I’m fine,” Irileth says hastily, taking an unsteady step back as she feels her head pulse and a cold sweat break out across her skin. “I’m just—tired. I think I need to rest.”

“Yes, of course you are. It’s been a long day,” Astarion replies mildly, although there is a sudden rigidity about him as he looks her over. He swallows, flickering shadows contorting across the long pale column of his neck. “You go rest, I’ll keep watch tonight.”

Irileth nods gratefully, desperate to get away from him, to put space in between him and her depravity.

Though she doesn’t get far. With a sharp yank, Astarion pulls her to a halt. Those crafty fingers—the same that delicately twisted her hair only moments ago—are now wrapped around her wrist like a vise. Irileth is surprised to find that it hurts.

Then gently, as if to make up for startling her, Astarion lifts her hand up between them.

Her finger, the same one she’d held against her dagger’s point, is a bloody mess. Crimson slides down the length of her forearm and drips off the end of her elbow. The droplets strike the earth with a soft pat, pat, pat.

“I think,” Astarion says slowly, his voice thick as he stares steadily at her face, unwavering, “you should get that patched up.”

And then he releases her. 

Irileth merely nods, thinking nothing of the ache she feels in her wrist, or how her wicked heart races at the sight of blood, even her own. She stumbles toward Shadowheart and thinks nothing of the way Astarion’s pupils have dilated, nearly dwarfing the red of his irises, until much later, in the dead of another night.

Shadowheart is not amused.

“You should reserve your knifeplay for the battlefield,” the cleric chastises with a disappointed sneer. “Next time, I might not be so gracious.”

Irileth sits quietly, watching as Shadowheart drags a wet rag across her forearm and all around her hand, wiping away the blood that spilled from her newly healed finger. The remnants of Shadowheart’s magic still linger, a pleasant coolness that has washed over Irileth, soothing all of the aches she’s collected throughout the day, save for the incessant beating against her skull. 

It feels… familiar almost. Like she’s been in this position before, pliant beneath a healer’s hand. But when Irileth reaches out to grasp it, the memory slips away.

“I’m sorry,” Irileth mumbles, curling and straightening her finger. “My hand slipped. I’ll take care of it next time.”

“Will you now?” Shadowheart scoffs, affronted, as her grip on Irileth’s arm tightens. “And do you know how to stitch a wound?”

Irileth bites the inside of her cheek and thinks that she just might. She doesn’t say this though, simply shrugs.

“Just as I thought,” Shadowheart huffs, shaking her head. “‘Next time’… Spare me.”

But despite her chuffing, Shadowheart’s hold eases and her last few strokes of the rag are nearly gentle. She likes this, Irileth realizes. Not just being the healer, but taking care of people.

Not that she would ever tell Shadowheart that.

Irileth gnaws on her cheek a little while longer, feeling the flesh turn raw and metallic before she asks, tentatively, “What do you think I was? Before all of this?”

Shadowheart’s green eyes flick up to meet her. Usually so guarded and flinty, they search Irileth’s face, slowly scrutinizing, and come away with something akin to… pity. She sighs and sits back on her knees, laying the rag in her lap. 

“It still bothers you, your memory loss. Well,” Shadowheart sighs, moving her gaze over the campsite in a long drag. “I suppose I understand that. Though it’s not as uncommon as you think.”

Irileth raises her brows, but the cleric doesn’t elaborate. 

“I don’t quite know who you were,” Shadowheart admits after a few moments have gone by. She plucks at the rag as she considers, the perfect white crescents of her nails pulling reddish brown threads free. “You remind me of—” 

Her voice breaks off suddenly, and Shadowheart’s expression turns stricken with alarm, then confusion. 

Irileth frowns. “Shadowheart?”

The cleric blinks, then shakes her head, pursing her lips. “I’m—sorry. I thought you reminded me of someone, but the name escapes me.” Her smile is tense and bitter. “You might take comfort in knowing that you are not the only one who is missing memories. Though, before you start to wonder: our afflictions are not the same. Mine was… voluntary. For my mission. I can say no more than that.”

“That sounds…extreme,” Irileth observes. It seems unfathomable, to choose the endless void that sits at the center of her. The yawning emptiness of self.

“It is.” A certain steeliness returns to Shadowheart. “It is not a sacrifice undertaken lightly for—for my Lady.”

Irileth, unsurprisingly, does not know much about the gods that govern Faerûn beyond what she has recovered from one of the books they found in Withers’ tomb. Right now, all she has is guesswork regarding which altar Shadowheart worships at.

“The gods seem to demand a lot,” Irileth muses and Shadowheart laughs, a soft little sound that dies quickly in the air.

“You’ve no idea,” Shadowheart replies with a surprising weariness. Then she straightens up, eyes narrowing, and tosses the rag aside. “But back to your original question. There’s something about you that I recognized. When you killed that mind flayer in the wreckage.”

Irileth remembers the event well, the creature pinned beneath the rubble, purple flesh shining. Glittering orange pearls of malice. They’d found it on the first day, she, Shadowheart, and Astarion.

“It was going to die anyway,” the cleric continues, and although her hands twist about, fingers running over the plaits of her hair, her gaze is steady. “But you still killed it. You were so… gentle. Like a lover.”

Irileth swallows, dread unspooling in her stomach even as her heart thumps with glee.

“You cradled its head as you pushed your knife through its skull.” Shadowheart’s voice was flat and almost ponderous, but here, it inflects with unease, “You were slow about it. You needn’t have been.”

Irileth’s mouth feels dry. She hadn’t realized it looked quite like that. She remembers only that she’d wanted it to suffer, for what it had done, for what it tried to do to her.

It tried to command her to love it.

“It captured us. It wanted to control us,” Irileth replies, defensive.

“Yes. And I am glad it’s dead.” Shadowheart is unwavering. “And still, you were unnecessary.”

“What did it remind you of?” she asks, nails biting into her knees as she presses her hands into the tops of her thighs to hide how they shake. “You said you recognized something.”

“Yes.” Shadowheart frowns. Looks away. “You reminded me of myself. When I pray.”

Oh.

Irileth pushes herself to her feet. That is… She doesn’t know what it is. She doesn’t know what it means, but whatever it is, she doesn’t like it.

“Thank you,” she says, and if she sounds a little winded, Shadowheart doesn’t comment on it. “For the healing.”

Shadowheart merely nods. “Just don’t expect me to heal you every time you prick your finger. Next time, try asking Astarion to stitch you up. He seems to know how to use a needle.”

Irileth huffs out a breath that she thinks might be a laugh. She remembers the squawk Astarion let out when his clothes snagged on a bramble, how he mended them the moment they set up camp last night. 

So careful with himself and his things, Astarion is. Like he has lost both before.

“Speaking of,” Shadowheart adds before Irileth turns away. Her voice drops, just loud enough to pass between the two of them. “You should be careful around Astarion. I saw the two of you, standing by the cliffside. Don’t be fooled by his pretty looks.”

“You don’t trust him?”

“I don’t trust anyone,” Shadowheart corrects, as if this is an important distinction. “But especially not him. He wants something. I just haven’t figured out what.”

Astarion has returned to his spot by the fire, his book spread out in his lap. Irileth watches as he slowly moves the page with a perfect, practiced grace—a performer through and through—and thinks that Shadowheart might be right.

The next morning, the nautiloid dies.

Once more, Irileth watches from the cliffside as the massive tentacles undergo their final death twitches, then fall still amongst the waves. Behind her, the rest of her companions pack up their tents. Today, they will enter the Grove to finally find a healer and hopefully get their cure.

Last night’s sleep found Irileth in fits and starts. No dreams, thankfully, just red smoke and metal. Her perpetual headache has subsided, or she has grown to tolerate it, and it has resolved itself to a dull pulse at the base of her cranium. Overall, she feels… better. More in control of herself. She just prays that her clarity of mind will persist.

It has to, Irileth vows to herself. It will. There will be no repeat of what happened last night. She can master her perversions. If her companions knew what rot festers in her jellied brain, they would surely cast her out.

 “Hm. Pity.” Astarion appears by her side once more, the scent of bergamot fresh in the air. There is a whine in his voice as he hums in displeasure. 

Speak of the devil. Irileth raises her brow at his dramatics and Astarion glances at her out of the corner of his eye, putting his palm to his cheek as his bottom lip juts out in a perfect pout.

He sighs with all of the grandiosity that only he can master. “I just hope it hurt.”

Then he walks off, swaggering and elegant. Irileth’s eyes catch on the back of his doublet as he goes, where a row of fine stitches crawl up the hem, just along his ribs.

Irileth presses her thumb into the pad of the forefinger she pierced last night. She won’t hurt him—she can’t. Nor any of her other companions. They are her only chance of survival; there will be no tadpole cure without their help.

But anyone else—their enemies? Irileth glances back at the ruined mind flayer ship one final time before grabbing her pack and checking the daggers hilted at her hips. 

For them, she can make no promises.

[hauntinq-6]

So... last night my very first run of BG3 finally came to an end, and... I gotta say I am pretty emotional.

Summer (my Tav) has been with me for six years. I first created her for my first ever D&D campaign back when I was still in high school and I still had the possibility to play. Hers was the only campaign I got to see from start to finish, so she is very dear to my heart.

Many things happened in these six years. I graduated from high school, I played other campaigns that never got to have an ending (don't date your DMs, kids-), I got broken up with my boyfriend, I got into uni, I lost family members, I've had some of my highest highs and lowest lows, I got my first degree in Psychology... And all throughout these years I kept creating characters, I kept addind and removing and modifying and writing and drawing and it was all so much fun!

But I kept missing Summer. I can't quite explain what attracts me so much to her character. If it's the fact I was in a happy place when I first created her and so my emotions and feelings from that time still connect me to her, or if it's specifically because I got to play a whole campaign with her or even because not only I could play with her but my best friend was also along with me for the ride and we had a blast together. Whatever it is, I could never quite be done with her, you know?

One thing was for certain though. After the first two or three years her ending didn't satisfy me anymore. She was still so young, she still had so many questions left unanswered and so much potential. We were thinking of a possible sequel campaign for her and Arwen (my best friend's character and now Tav) but that's when our DM dropped us both. We were left wondering what we could do for them, what we could write and how. We weren't entirely sure which direction to take our characters in.

Then BG3 came out. I remember my timeline being flooded with Astarion edits (that damn song lives rent free in my head at this point), being so utterly confused at what the hell was going on and then slowly becoming intrigued. I remember sitting down with my best friend to watch a mega compilation of all the characters' romance scenes, finding the visuals so damn beautiful, being convinced I would be my usual freak self and go for The Emperor but falling hard for Gale instead. We so desperately wanted to play but neither of us had a PC that was compatible with the game.

Then my long distance friend reached out and told me he wanted to play long distance with me on Discord. It was all incredibly clunky and finicky but Gods I was so happy. He'd be playing from the other side of the country and streaming it for me, and I would pick all the dialogue choices in character. That's when my bestie and I had a eureka moment and thought "what if... what if Summer and Arwen's story wasn't over yet? What if they left Aegis to find new adventures and ended up in Faerun??". I was so fucking excited it is almost unbelievable.

We spent six whole months on this one game file and I enjoyed every. single. second of it. Six whole months of pure excitement and delight. The more I played, the more I tweaked Summer's character and backstory to fit the narration, the more I got inspired to write up the new chapters of her adventure with my best friend and the more I fell in love with her. I laughed, I cried, I launched myself into deep discussions over her character and why she would do or say certain things in each situation. I saw her easily slip back into her avdenturing habits, adoring each moment she got to spend under the stars. I saw her face her demons once again and with even more purpose this time. I saw her make new friends that she would want to spend the rest of her life with, I saw her fall in love with a man that truly deserved to be by her side... My little tiefling sorceress that plays like a barbarian, my pride and joy.

And it all came to and end last night. Her and her allies won the last battle, they saved Baldur's Gate, Gale proposed to her and she moved with him to Waterdeep to spend the rest of their life together. She got her happy ending.

Six whole years with Summer and I can finally consider her story complete. Perhaps she is so important to me because out of all the characters I created, she is the only one that finally got her whole character arc. A beginning and an end. And after all the harsh challenges she faced, after all the dangers and the pain and suffering... she finally got her happy ending. She got what she deserved.

Now, does that mean I am done with Summer? Absolutely not. There is still much to do, much to write and much to draw. I'm gonna have tons of fun thinking up extra little scenarios for her and her friends and what her life in Waterdeep is gonna look like as she finally gets to build a family of her own. But as far as I am concerned... her main story's complete.

And as I listen to Endless Spring and get emotional all over again, I want to thank @wolfhunter89 and @sheeplyquillwrites for coming along with me on this wonderful journey. Summer's story just wouldn't have been the same without you. I love you guys so damn much, even if I never say it. I can't wait to see what's in store for Arwen next. To many more stories and games shared together!

[alpydk]

If you ever find yourself bored again, you can do this 😉

CHARACTER ASK GAME!!! 💫

For Astarion: 5+6+8+12+25

For Gale: 14 + 16+ also 8+ 23 (I expect cowboy hat 🤣 just kidding)

I'm going to do this now before I fail to ever find the ask game questions again! (I love answering questions and using my brain to think over stuff like this.)

Right! Astarionnnnnnn!

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

Keep me dumb, keep me small Keep me closer to you Keep me still, keep it all Keep away from the truth Keep me here, keep me cool 'cause it's already done Everything is so intimidating

My partner's choice was "Walking on Sunshine..." - -

6. What's something you have in common with this character?

Reactions to trauma, baby! It's too early to share further than that. Just know I struggle with his romance if I'm playing a good serious run through and I don't take him to beat Cazador because his breakdown is too relatable. (Even if it is one of the best acted scenes in the entire game.)

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Essentially make him out to be sin free the moment they romance him. You can't fix someone just by fucking them! It does not work that way. You think he's going to be healed within 6 months? A year? No, this guy is going to be fucked for at least another century, if not longer. You want a fucked up relationship with someone mentally ill go for it, but don't think you can truly fix him. #endrant

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

Going to take from my fic CoO for this.

“When they buried me, they forgot to wipe a spot of blood from my neck.”  He wiped the dirt and scarlet spots from her cheek, revealing the pale complexion beneath. “And when I woke up, I found myself trapped in the darkness, within the confines of the box they’d placed me in.” He placed the cloth in the water, squeezing it slightly, watching as the fluid changed colour to a murky red. “I remember the dirt falling in on me as I broke through the wood, terrified I was going to suffocate. It took some time to realise that it wasn’t happening as I swallowed the soil and emerged above ground.” Astarion began to softly wipe at her hands, delicately tracing under her nails. “And yet despite how I felt, how my clothes were left muddied, how much earth was beneath my own nails, all I really remember is that dried blood on my neck.” 

25. What was your first impression of this character? How about now?

Killed him in my first run with little regrets. I didn't find him until near the end of act 1, got attacked by him, then bitten, all in a very short time span. Then I found the Gur and handed him over. Oops, but served him right.

Now though, he's my team cleric of Lathander (Irony!) - And he's my ride or die bro.

Gale time!

14. Assign a fashion aesthetic to this character.

I'm a member of the messy suit brigade. Get that man an unbuttoned collar, stat! (Also picture related, I want that too.)

16. What's your least favorite ship for this character?

Shadowheart x Gale - Just don't see how it works. Or like I do, with him teaching her to swim or something, but I don't think she'd put up with his long lectures on subjects and he'd get annoyed at her snappiness. Just doesn't work for me.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I've ranted about this before. Pining God!Gale! -

23. Favorite picture of this character?

I have so many! (But these are my favourites, before I get dragged into my screenshots folder and you lose me forever)